


Opening Up

by laurenel1616



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - BDSM, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Dom/sub, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light BDSM, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Subdrop, Subspace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:15:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenel1616/pseuds/laurenel1616
Summary: Lauren Brooks grew up with toxic dominant parents whose outlook on society was imprinted in her brain. But when she's classified as a level 10 submissive and is forced to hide her rank, her world is thrown for a loop. Luckily, once she turns 18 she is presented with the opportunity to move in with her best friend Cameron and a group of his friends. However, when an unexpected drop reveals her true classification to the boys, will Lauren be able to deny what she was taught in her past and embrace her classification, or will her parent's words pressure her back down a long road of suffering and trauma?
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 30
Kudos: 57





	1. Testing

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Anything That Bleeds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3908632) by [mypedia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mypedia/pseuds/mypedia). 



> This is my first work ever! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Trigger Warning: mentions of bdsm (dom, sub, switch, etc.) and previous trauma, Lauren has some slight anxiety issues, but nothing too bad

“Cammy Cammy Cammy what if, I mean I mean, like, what if it, I can't, I just-”

“LAUREN,” Cammy interrupted.

“..yeah?” Lauren almost whimpered. She could barely focus with all these thoughts of her sorting test swimming through her head. She couldn't bear to think of what would happen if she got-”

“Lauren, are you listening to me? I need you to take a few deep breaths for me ok?” Cammy spoke in his smooth, calming voice. He waited until the sound of Lauren’s frantic footsteps over the phone quieted as her pacing slowed. Finally, he spoke, "Lauren everything’s gonna be fine, ok? Nothing is going to happen no matter what you get on your test. Whether you're a dom, switch or sub, you will be fine, I will make sure of it. If the results come back and we’re in a position where we have to lie, then we will. It's gonna be ok, I promise.” 

“It's not that easy, Cammy,” she replied. What if I get classified as a sub and my parents find out. I’d be as good as dead. And even if we were to hide it, you know we can't legally buy the prevention pills until we're 18, and what would we do for the 5 years until then? I can't hide much from my parents and even if I could, they say that instincts can kick in as soon as 2 weeks after testing and if that were to happen how would I be able to ignore them? What if I start to get subsick? Then they would surely find out and I can’t have that Cammy! You know that my parents would flip out if I got assigned anything but dom, let alone if I was a sub, What would we do then? She rambled frantically.

“Hey, breathe, ok? Cam soothed her, hoping his tone was making it through over the phone. “Listen, worst-case scenario, my brother turns 18 in a month, he can get you what you need to hide your instincts. And if that doesn't work, there has to be some way for us to get you some packs, even illegally. You can’t be the only one to have to hide your rank.’’

“I guess…” Lauren replied, unsure of how true that statement was. “Oh shoot! I forgot about the markings! What am I gonna do about that?” Lauren started pacing the testing lobby floors once again, hand running idly along her jaw where any submissives marking would be found. Funny how one little v right underneath her ear at the start of her jaw could be so petrifying to her. She could only hope that that marking would be a vertical line or at the very least a colored-in circle, portraying her as a dom or switch. She didn’t know how many times the thought of that small v-shaped sub marking had haunted her. Now thinking that that small mark might be the downfall to her ability to hide her instincts, it was petrifying.

Cameron started to think of a solution, then spoke clearly to Lauren, “Hey Laur, what if you get dom? Then all this panicking is for nothing. And I know there are at least two switches in your family, so there's a ⅔ chance that it'll all be fine. I really think you're stressing out over nothing.”

“I am not stressing out over nothing and you know that. It's just that chance that I could get sub that's stressing me out. Even if there was a 0.001% chance that it could happen I'd still be nervous. You know how my family treats subs. They might as well be slaves to my parents. A sub in my family is an object, they are property, if I were to be a sub, I would lose all my rights. I'd be worthless. I CAN'T have that happen. I don't know how I'd live.”

“Laur, if you do get sub, we’ll get super full coverage makeup so you can hide it, you know lots of people actually do that, even if they’re ok with their classification. You could just tell your parents it's because you don't want a sub. You could hide as a dom and just claim you're not feeling any instincts, which they can't blame you for and is actually pretty common. We’ll get you the pills, and we won't tell anyone but ourselves. You can trust me, I promise. I'm even looking it up right now and I've already found three different dealers for prevention pills. This one for SubStop is even pretty cheap and has really good reviews. Here I'll send you the link. We can just get you pills through this and my brother wouldn't even have to know. It'll all be ok, and as soon as you turn 18 we can move out. Ok?” Cameron spoke, grateful that they seemed to have covered all the grey areas.

“Yeah ok,” Lauren breathed. Cameron was a year older than her and had been her best friend since he moved to her neighborhood when she was in second grade. Even back then when he was only 9 he was the one she went to with all her problems, and here we are 5 years later and things haven't changed. She was relieved that there was someone who seemed to have faith in her. “I just really hope-”

“Lauren Brooks?” a voice called out in the lobby of the testing center.

Lauren took in a shaky breath as she turned towards the doorway where the voice came from. “I gotta go, Cam, they just called my name for testing,” she spoke weakly.

“Ok, Laur, you're going to be fine, just be honest and I’ll talk to you after ok?” Cameron spoke, relieved that they would soon have answers to their struggles.

“Yeah, thanks Cammy, I’ll talk to you later,” she said, finally hanging up on the call and putting her phone in her pocket. She walked over to the doorway where a young woman stood with a clipboard. She looked up at Lauren and calmly said, “follow me.” They walked through the door and down a long white hallway into a small room. On one side was a desk and on the other was a couch and a small table.  _ Seems safe,  _ she thought, relieved that nothing in the room seemed too intimidating.

“Just take a seat on the couch here, make yourself comfortable. Your test administrator should be in any minute, and you'll get started with your test right away. There's nothing to be worried about, and good luck,” the women spoke, before leaving the room. Lauren sat down on the couch and began looking around the room. Unconsciously her leg began to bounce on the floor with nerves. As she began to notice the room in more detail she saw pictures hanging on the wall of a small group of boys, seeming to be a couple of years older than her. A nametag with _ Mr. Sage Miller  _ engraved and a small computer monitor sat on the desk in front of her.  _ Sage Miller,  _ she thought to herself,  _ I wonder if he's in those pictures _ . She knew that most commonly test administrators were over 18, but in some special cases, interns were taken at 16 to administer the tests. Time seemed to move super slow as Lauren waited for Mr. Miller to come, and just as she was about to pull out her phone and start texting Cammy again someone knocked lightly on the door and walked in. A young boy dressed in a blue polo shirt walked into the room and turned toward Lauren. He had short brown hair that was kept nicely and walked with confidence and ease as he introduced himself. 

“Hi, I’m Mr. Miller, but you can just call me Sage. I'm going to be administrating your sorting test today.”

_ Definitely an intern, _ Lauren thought to herself. Probably better for her honestly, she didn't know if she could handle an adult finding out so many things about her, too intimidating.

“I know today might seem scary or intimidating, but it's not. Today is just me learning a little bit about you, and your class should just be an extension of you, not something that takes effort or changes who you are, so there's nothing to worry about. Alright?” Sage spoke gently.

“Yeah, ok,” Lauren answered, still unsure if she believed what Sage had said. I mean, she knew what her parents thought was wrong, but she never knew a life of anything else. Is being a sub really ok like everyone says, are doms supposed to care for subs rather than use them? Are switches really as good as everyone else, even though they don't fit into one side? She tried not to get pulled into the toxic practices of her family, but it's hard to differ from what she had been surrounded with all your life.

Slightly suspicious of Lauren’s reaction, Sage continued on with protocol, not wanting to bring any unnecessary worry to the young girl. “So let's get started with the evaluation. We’re just gonna start by getting to know each other a little bit. So why don't you introduce yourself,” Sage said kindly.

“Um, don't you have all my information on those papers?” Lauren asked. She wondered what else he would want to know that she hadn’t already given on the multiple papers she had filled out prior to today.

“I know I technically have everything right here, but I want to hear it from you. Tell me what you think I need to know, not what the papers decide for you. I think it's important for us to be comfortable with each other for this, and that we treat this more like a long conversation than a test or examination. That makes it seem like there are wrong answers, and that's not true. So, who are you?” Sage asked.

“Well, my name is Lauren Brooks, I’m 13 years old and I'm in 7th grade. I've lived here on Long Island for my entire life, aaand I don't know what else to really say,” she replied.

“Ok well, I’m Sage, I’m 16 years old, this is my first year working as an intern here for testing, but I’ve lived on a Long Island since I was 2. I’m a sophomore in high school, I’m on the JV soccer team, and my favorite flavor of ice cream is rocky road, which is a very important fact.” Sage smiled back.

“Oh yeah?” Lauren laughed. She was beginning to relax a little, happy that nothing had been very intense so far.

“Definitely,” Sage stated. “You can tell a lot about a person based on their favorite ice cream flavor, but that's a conversation for another time. Now, on to some of the actual testing. This first part is just going to be me asking you some questions, and, not that I think you would, but there really isn't a way to cheat on the test, despite what people think. Even if you give the exact same answers as someone who got a certain classification, it doesn't mean that you'll get the same rank as them. I know it seems weird, but just trust me, and be honest, and it'll all work out ok?”

“Ok,” Lauren responded. It seemed impossible that things like that wouldn't work, but she didn't plan on rigging anything anyways, so she let it drop.

“Ok then, let's begin,” Sage said, looking over to his clipboard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okayyy and we’re done! Now I’m just gonna submit this and we’ll talk over some things for a bit while we wait for your results to come in. It should only take around 5 minutes for them to be calculated and then we'll discuss the outcome right after.” Sage said, happy that everything seems to have gone well during the test, not worried that Lauren had tried to get anything past him. She seemed really sweet and honest during the entirety of the exam.

“Ok,” Lauren responded, drained. The test wasn't really anything like what she had expected it to be, curious as to how they would find her classification based on the questions they asked. They were all really vague or didn't have anything to do with what she thought were dom or sub tendencies. Mostly it was just questions about her, things she liked, and what she would do in certain scenarios. Either way, she felt like she had just laid her life out for Sage to interrogate, like she had just spilled everything, things she didn't even know about herself. It was almost as if she had just finished a really intense therapy session, on the verge of crying and laughing at the same time, fragile, vulnerable. She hoped whatever Sage wanted to talk to her about wasn't anything super intense or serious, as she didn’t know if she could handle any of that at the moment. Her leg started to bounce once again as she waited for Sage to submit her answers, but not long after she heard the wheels of Sage’s chair begin to turn as he finished what he was doing on his computer. She looked up and he smiled at her, which was soothing.

“Ok so now that that’s done, I’m just gonna go over the way that the classification system works and what it all means. I’m sure you basically know it all already, but it's important to cover everything and anything you might not understand. So the way that the ranks work is by category and scale. There are three main categories that you can be put into, Dominant, Switch, and Submissive. Generally speaking, doms take on the leading role in a relationship, they are responsible for helping guide a sub into regular subspace. As a switch, they have both dominant and submissive tendencies. They will be able to guide a sub into subspace as well as be dropped into subspace themselves. They are most often paired with another sub so that both members would be able to partake in both sides of the spectrum. A sub generally takes the obedient or passive role in the relationship and needs to be regularly dropped into subspace by a dom. Contrary to what is sometimes believed, both the dom and sub have control in the relationship. They both have safewords, whether the relationship is sexual or not, and have the ability to stop anything at any time immediately. Now for the scale. No matter what class you fall into, you also fall into a level on the scale. The scale determines how strong your instincts will be, as well as the level partner you can guide into a drop or be dropped by. As a dom and sub I'm sure that's pretty clear, a higher level dom needing to take control and drop a sub more frequently, and a higher level sub needing to relinquish control and be dropped more frequently. A level 5 dom can only drop level 5 subs or lower and a level 5 sub can only be dropped by a level 5 dom or higher. That makes it really convenient for level 10 doms, who can help guide any level sub into a drop, whereas it makes it a little difficult for a level 10 sub, who can only be dropped by a level 10 dom, unless dominant supplements are used of course. Supplements can sort of “lower” a submissive's status for a drop, and can allow for a level 5 dom to drop a level 7 sub, if the correct amount of supplements are given to the submissive. They help allow for different level dom/sub pairs to be able to maintain a successful relationship where they both fulfill their needs even if they aren’t the same level. Now back to the scale. For a switch, a high-level ranking means that they might feel both sides more intensely, and need to switch more often in order to fulfill those needs. No matter what class or level you are, ignoring your instincts can lead to sickness. Of course, a higher level class is more likely to become sick faster, but no matter what your results come back to be, you'll need to get fulfillment of your instincts somewhere or your body will become both physically and mentally ill. Your classification is something for you to embrace, and if you do it will help you become an even better person and will bring out different parts of your personality. So I think I’ve covered it all, any questions?” Sage finished, a little out of breath after his long rant. 

“Ummm, I don't think so, except maybe about the whole sickness thing?” Lauren responded, a little overwhelmed after the whole speech. Luckily she had known about most of the things he had mentioned, except the whole sickness after neglect thing kinda made her unsettled, especially with her plan with Cammy if she were to be a sub.

“Ok yeah, I’ll explain a little more,” Sage says, kinda concerned that she hadn't known about that part of his talk. That was usually something that parents first taught their kids, along with the whole safewords talk. He thought she might have questions about the whole instincts thing or switching from dom to sub as a switch. He made sure to keep this concern at the back of his mind but continued to answer her question.

“So doms, subs, and switches can all get sick by ignoring their instincts, but it's most common in subs. SubSickness can occur when a sub does not reach subspace as frequently as necessary. The higher on the scale that that sub falls, the more often they need to be dropped, and the faster they reach subsickness. SubSickness gets more serious the longer that a sub denies their instincts, and eventually can become life-threatening to a sub. Some subs take prevention pills that substitute their drops with the hormones that usually release during a drop. However, these pills have several side effects that aren't healthy for subs. They can lead to depression and are highly addictive, and can make it harder for a sub to naturally drop with the help of a dom. Yes, they prevent subsickness, but they can change your personality and be really damaging. Does that make sense?” Sage explained, hoping he was getting his point across, especially how harmful prevention pills were, hoping that Lauren wasn’t considering using these if she gets sub as her classification, which if the results came back the way he predicted, she would.

Lauren let out a breath of relief hearing that pills could prevent subsickness. She was hoping that she didn't get sub, but she was happy that she had a plan if she did. She then heard a ding come from Sage’s computer, and a tiny gasp came from her mouth, all the nerves returning to her body. “That must be the results,” Sage said, turning back to his computer and clicking on the notification. He opened up the document and smiled. “Ahh” he exclaimed, “just as a thought,” he said, smiling. “You, Ms. Lauren, are a level 10 submissive!” 

Lauren’s chest tightened, fear taking over her body.  _ Nonononono she couldn’t be a sub, she just couldn't, she, she, she- _

“Lauren?” Sage interrupted her thoughts, worried as Lauren hadn’t responded and seemed to be freaking out a bit. He knew being a level 10 could sometimes be surprising, but he hadn’t seen this before. “Are you alright?”

“Uhhh yeah,” Lauren replied shakily. “Just, unexpected”  _ and unwanted _ went unsaid. She couldn't believe she was a level 10 sub. She had been scared she might be a level 2, maybe a level 3, but  _ level 10, _ it was impossible. Her entire family was doms, all high level. Only her aunt and uncle had been switches, and they were more or less shunned from the family once they were 18 and could move out on their own. “Are you sure?” she asked with a small ounce of hope that he had read the document incorrectly.

Sage’s brow furrowed at that, his concern growing by the minute. Of course he was sure, it was right in front of him. “Uh, yeah, I’m sure,” he responded. “Lauren, is there something I should know that you aren't telling me? I promise, this is a safe space, and I only want to help you,” he told her, hoping she would trust him to help her with whatever it was that was bothering her. 

Alarms went off inside of Lauren’s head.  _ He knows he knows he knows  _ she thought.  _ No, that’s not possible, he’s just checking, making sure. _ She tried to tell herself. _ I just have to convince him I’m fine, he can't know, he can't find out.  _ “Oh, uh, no I’m fine I promise, it's just a surprise I guess, I umm, I thought I would get dom,” she lied, letting out a fake laugh, hoping she was convincing Sage.

Sage wasn't convinced, there was something she wasn't telling him. Unfortunately, if she wasn't going to tell him, it wasn't his place to push, so he continued on, not wanting to distress the poor girl any more than he had. “Ok then,” he said reluctantly, “now, I know you're only 13, but your instincts could kick in anytime starting in 2 weeks, and I’m advising you to find a dom who can help you drop. Whether that be your parents, a neighbor, a reliable friend, it doesn't matter, but you'll need to start beginning to drop quite frequently, usually around once or twice a day for a level 10. The goal is by 18 that you’ll find someone who can continuously drop you permanently, but until then you'll have to have someone else fulfilling that role. Your sub mark should start to show in a couple of days, so just be aware that the skin around your ear/jaw area might become a little sensitive. Now, I'll email you this document that has all the information from your testing and classification, and you can continue on with the rest of your day,” Sage said.

“Ok, thanks,” Lauren replied, body shaking with anxiety. She was relieved that she was getting to go home and that she had 2 weeks to figure out how to get that SubStop Cammy found earlier. She stood up and headed over to where Sage was printing the dreaded document. She grabbed the papers when he handed them to her and called out a thank you, turning towards the door, but as she began to walk out towards the hallway, Sage grabbed her arm with a concerned look encompassing his face.

“Lauren, are you sure that everything’s ok?” He asked, hoping that she would tell him what's wrong so that he could find that sweet, shy, smiling girl he had spoken to during her testing. 

Lauren quickly nodded, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible so that she wouldn't crack in front of Sage. If she broke down like she wanted to he would surely know something was wrong, and she would have to tell him. “I'm good, thank you” she responded quickly, and pulled her hand out of his gentle grip and hurried down the hallway, thoughts and panic swimming through her head.

As Sage watched her leave he sighed sadly, hoping that she wouldn’t continue to torture herself with whatever thoughts seemed to be haunting her mind.


	2. Overwhelmed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Lauren returns home after her testing, she is forced to come up with a believable story for her classification. Unfrtunately that story is soon after put to the test, causing her emotions to go haywire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!! This one's slightly shorter than the previous one, but I think it turned out ok.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Anxiety attack, mentions of rape and both physical and mental abuse/trauma
> 
> Enjoy!

As soon as Lauren walked out of the testing center the damn broke, eyes blurring as tears started streaming down her face.  _ I’m a sub. How am I a sub? Why?  _ She just couldn't believe that of all the things she could have been, she was a level 10 sub. She passed the bus stop, deciding to walk home in hopes of buying some time to clear her head. She spotted a bench up ahead and sat down. Pulling out her phone, she clicked on the link that Cammy had sent to her earlier. It led to a new web browser with bold black print reading:

~  **WELCOME TO SUBSTOP, THE MOST RELIABLE SUBMISSIVE PREVENTION PILLS TO EVER REACH THE MARKET! BYPASS ALL YOUR INSTINCTS TODAY FOR THE BEST PRICE OF $15 PER PACK! 10% OFF YOUR FIRST PACKS PURCHASE, AND FREE SHIPPING FOR PURCHASES OVER $100! ~**

She clicked on the tab with the words  **BUY NOW!,** and scrolled down to the directions. Reading it, she began to feel a little more confident about purchasing. She would just have to take one pill every morning, and they would take away all of her uncontrollable instincts, for the time being at least.  _ Easy enough.  _ She went back up to the order form and clicked to buy her first pack. Based on the website it seemed that a pack should last her about a month, and by then she would have enough money from her allowance to buy more. She entered her address and debit card number, finishing the order. Next, she looked for a full coverage foundation, quickly finding one and placing an order.  _ Perfect.  _ Now she just had to decide what to do about her parents and she should be-  _ Cammy. What do I do about Cammy?  _ For one, she wanted to tell him, she knew he would keep her secret, and it would be nice to have someone who knew. On the other hand, if her parents were to find out... No, she couldn't tell Cammy. If her parents found out her secret and that he knew, they would go after him too. They already didn’t like that she was best friends with a level 7 switch, but if they found out that he was also hiding her classification, they would ruin him.  _ I can't let that happen.  _ Lauren decided right then and there that she would never tell Cammy her true classification. It was for his own good. Looking back at her phone she called him, knowing he would be curious as to how the test went. After 3 rings he picked up, anxiously awaiting Lauren’s results.

“So? How’d it go?” Cammy asked Lauren, hoping that everything had worked out and that they wouldn't have to follow through with their plan. Not that he wouldn’t help if they had to, but he didn't want to put that amount of stress on Lauren. He thought of her as a little sister and wanted to protect her with everything he had. He couldn’t wait until she turned 18 and he could take her away from her family, the people who should be supporting her but really are the main causes of stress in her life. He waited patiently for her voice to come through over the line, and when it finally did, he was relieved.

“It went really well actually. I had a super nice administrator, and he helped make me feel really comfortable the whole time and explained everything really well. I'm super happy that I had him for my test because I don't know if I would have been able to relax as much as I did if I had an adult,” she shivered at the thought of that last bit. As she spoke she tried to sound calm and convincing. So far she hadn’t had to lie, but she knew she was just avoiding the inevitable by not giving him her exact results. And she was right. Not a minute later Cammy was asking her the exact question she dreaded most.

“Ok, that’s amazing! Now, what's your classification?” he asked, crossing his fingers and praying it wasn’t sub. She didn’t sound upset so he thought that was a good sign. Although, even if she was upset it could just be from the testing as a whole. He knew that when he took it he had felt super relieved afterward, but he had heard of people feeling tired or vulnerable after which could make her upset. 

Lauren thought of what to tell Cam. She knew whatever she went with she would have to stick with it in the future, so she had to choose something that would be believable. “I’m a level 5 dom,” she said.  _ Dom, so they wouldn't have to go through with the plan, but a low enough level where she wouldn't be able to drop him in a sticky situation. Perfect.  _

“Oh, really?” Cameron was actually surprised by this. He never thought she was going to be a dom. I mean, he didn't want her to be a sub, but he thought she would at least be a switch. She just never seemed to have that leading/commanding edge that doms tended to have. Anyways, it wasn't his opinion that mattered. If she was a dom, then that was great for her. “That's amazing!” he said. “Are you going to tell your parents?” he asked. 

Lauren knew what her answer was to that one. “I'm gonna tell them I'm a level 8.” It was true, she was. No matter what classification she got, if it hadn't been at least a level 7 dom, she would’ve told them she was. “Though I’m still going to hide my mark, even as a dom. My sister did that too, and I have no desire to get a sub or anything like that anytime soon,” she said so that he wouldn't question where her mark was.

“Oh yeah, I get that,” Cam responded. “Well, I'm glad that it all went well, and I’m happy that you're happy with your classification as a  _ level 8 dom, _ ” he said, smiling over the phone.

“Yeah, haha,” Lauren laughed weakly over the phone. Funny how untrue that statement was. “I'm gonna head home now, I'll see you tomorrow?” she asked, wanting to get off the phone and collect herself before seeing her family.

“Yup, good luck at home, and I’ll see you tomorrow!” Cam said. “See ya!” he called out before hanging up the phone, happy that everything had worked out with his friend.

“Bye,” Lauren whispered softly as she heard the line go dead. She tucked her phone into her pocket and started walking towards her block. She hated that she had to lie to her best friend, but she knew that it was for his safety, and she couldn't risk him being hurt over her secrets. She tried not to think about Cammy anymore and focused on what she was telling her family. She knew that a level 8 dom would be good enough for them, but telling them about her mark would be a little more difficult. Not that it wasn’t common, but she had to make it sound like she had spoken it over with her administrator and that she knew what she was talking about. By the time she had come up with a story that she thought would work, she had reached her house and she turned to head up her driveway. Pulling her house key out of her pocket, she unlocked the front door and headed into the kitchen where she saw her older sister Piper working on dinner. She pulled her sweatshirt off and went to wash her hands so she could help her, as Piper turned towards her with expecting eyes.

“So, what’d you get?” She asked, straight to the point. Piper had always been that way, blunt and straightforward with her words.

“Hi Piper, nice to see you too! My day was great thanks for asking,” Lauren replied sarcastically. Piper hadn't always been the nicest to her, but then again, nobody in her family was really, well, nice. She was a level 9 dom, but hid her mark and didn't want a sub. The fact that she didn't want a sub for herself even at 17 kinda added to her intimidating sort of dead inside vibe. Knowing that avoiding the question wasn’t going to help her story, he gave Piper the answer she had come up with. “I'm a dom, level 8,” she said, trying not to give anything away with her tone of voice.

“And your mark?” Piper asked. Nobody usually asked about the marking, as it was more common for one to just leave their mark, as it was less effort and they usually were looking for a partner anyways. However, in Piper’s case, she knew what it was like to not want a sub unlike their parents, and was curious. 

Expecting this question from Piper, Lauren answered easily. “I'm hiding it, just like you. Just bought coverage online on the walk home.” She tried seeming nonchalant about it, any change in her voice could give away her lies.

Luckily, Piper didn't appear to pick up on anything. “Ah, you can get some good stuff for that online. Be careful with mom when telling her that, just don't elaborate and tell her straight. She tends to try and scare you out of it.” Piper explained, understanding how judgy their parents could be. 

“Ok, thanks Pipes. Now, what do you need help with here?” Lauren asked, relieved that she got through the conversation, and turned to help Piper finish preparing the meal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, Lauren, I believe you have some news to tell us?” Mrs. Brooks spoke loud and clear at the dinner table. Mrs. Brooks was a no-nonsense sort of person. She was a level 10 dom, along with her husband. Extremely uncommon was a dom/dom couple with such high levels, however, they both found a way to fulfill their needs. The Brooks adults were the type of adults that people despised. They had subs cowering at their feet, and nobody dared interact with them if they weren’t forced to. And the people who did, well, they were forced to. Usually, in the case of toxic doms, the government would try to sue them or shut them down, but unfortunately, the Brooks were both level 10 doms and weren’t afraid to force unwilling subs or switches into a drop. They have been caught in multiple cases using their dom vices to either scare people away or force them into doing them service, and yes, that means rape. The Brooks’ lived their lives the way they wanted too, and didn't care how their opinions affected others, so it's no surprise that even their own kids feared them. Both Piper and Lauren’s brother, Corey, looked over at her in pity. Yeah, it wasn't that big a question in theory, but they all knew how their parents’ tempers could go from zero to one hundred real fast. Lauren sat up straight and pulled herself together, preparing for an interrogation. “I am a level 8 dominant, according to my testing. I am hoping to hide my marking like Piper has, as I am not looking for a submissive anytime soon,” she stated matter-of-factly. Corey looked slightly shocked, but he was always the most understanding of Lauren, the two of them being closest in age, her being 13 and him 15. He was a level 7 dom himself, and wore his mark proudly, although avoiding his parent’s unhealthy practices. Instead, he was happily in a relationship with a level 7 sub from his school, who he tended to hang around with instead of spending time at home. Piper was unfazed by her announcement, having heard this all before, but all three looked over when they heard their father clear his throat and their mother shift in her seat. 

“Well, congratulations on being valid, but are you sure you want to hide your mark? You know we could have some fun with some of our slaves in the basement,” her mother smirked.

“Yes, it would be a great time and you would learn from the best of course,” said her father.

Lauren tried her best to hide a shiver as her parents' words shook her.  _ Why would I ever want that?  _ She composed herself and did her best to answer politely without provoking her parents any more. “I have no desire to partake in any of your games, and I am not looking for a submissive at this point, so I feel it appropriate that I hide my marking when it comes in. I hope you can respect my decision as it is final,” she stated, shoulders set and hiding the terrifying feelings in her bones. She looked over at her parents and saw the disappointed looks in their eyes, but they made no moves towards her, which Lauren took as a good sign.

“It seems as if you have chosen to follow in the footsteps of your sister. What a waste of such a pristine ranking, however, I know that you will one day join us in our valuable practice so I am not worried. Now, why don't you clean all this up and head to your room, I have seen enough of you tonight,” her mother spoke in her demeaning tone, shaking her head slightly. Lauren breathed a sigh of relief as she watched her mother and father stand and leave the table. She looked over at Corey and Piper to see their faces matching her own, shaken, but at ease. They all knew that that conversation could have gone much worse, and were glad that none of them had ended up hurt. Piper stood to start clearing the table, and Corey broke the tension and spoke to Lauren for the first time that night. 

“I'm glad that everything went well, Laur. Don't be upset by mom and dad, you know they did the same thing for me and Piper when we denied them as well. It's fine, they'll just take out their anger on someone else. It's better not to think about it,” he said. He then stood to go help Piper with the dishes. “Go, we’ll finish this up. You've had a stressful day, get some sleep,” he said kindly. Lauren thanked him and headed up the stairs to her room. She couldn't even explain how thankful she was that Corey had said that, the pounding in her ears from earlier returning as her thoughts started to swim.  _ Why is this happening? Why am I freaking out? Everything’s fine, it went fine, why am I feeling like this?  _ She closed the door behind her as she stepped into her room and sat on her bed, putting her head into her hands. She didn't know why, but her breathing had become labored and she couldn't seem to control her thoughts. She tried looking up and blinking to clear the fog clouding her eyes, but all that seemed to do was make her dizzy. As time went on her breaths became faster, and the shaking in her hands became uncontrollable. She tried to focus on her breathing and started to take deep, long, breaths.  _ In, out, in, out. I’m ok, everything’s ok, I'm going to be fine. Just breathe.  _ After a minute or two, the shaking began to die down, and she gained some control back over her breathing. She looked up and around the room, finding herself to be really sweaty and her muscles felt extremely tired.  _ What was that?  _ She thought.  _ Was I really that shaken by dinner?  _ She had never felt so emotional, even after much worse encounters with her parents, so the fact that this happened alarmed her. She pulled out her laptop from its case on her desk and went to google. She clicked on the search bar and looked up  **emotions out of whack after the sorting test?** A surprising amount of links popped up after her search and she clicked on the first one. She read and was surprised by what she found.

**Oftentimes after sorting testing, you might feel quite frail and defenseless. This is perfectly normal, especially in subs. It is quite common for high-level submissives to experience an anxiety or panic attack after testing, due to the nerves that might appear before and during the test. The emotional buildup needs release, so one might feel overwhelmed or frightened as their body reacts to those sensations. In specific cases of newly identified submissives, emotions tend to be brought to the surface as instincts begin to come in. It is normal to feel certain emotions to extremes as your body evolves and adapts to your classification. If you are feeling any of these emotions it is advised to go to a trusted dom and attempt to reach subspace. Although it might be difficult to dop so early into the transition, subspace is the easiest way to relax and recenter a submissive. Anxiety can be very dangerous to a submissive and can lead to subsickness if not dealt with sufficiently.**

_ Well, that's great  _ Lauren thought. Her substop pack wasn't supposed to come in for another 2 or 3 days and if her anxiety keeps spiking like this there's no guarantee that she wouldn't get sick, or even worse, drop. Subdrops could be guided down naturally by dominants, or the sub could be forced into a drop due to stress or trauma. If Lauren were to stress drop in front of her parents, she wouldn't know what she would do. And it wasn’t like there was a dom she could go to for help. She decided to text Cammy to see if he could help calm her down. Even though she couldn't tell him her real problem, she knew just talking to him would calm her down. She pulled out her phone and clicked on her message thread with Cameron.

_ ~ Hey Cammy _

**~ Hey Laur, whats up**

_ ~ Just laying in my room _

**~ How'd the conversation with your parents go**

_ ~ Eh. Not terrible. They believed me, but they kept trying to guilt me into showing my mark. _

**~ Oh, that sucks. Are you ok?**

Lauren stared at that question for a minute.  _ Was she ok? _ She didn't really know, but she knew her response to Cam wasn't the answer.

_ ~ Yeah, I am. Just shaken. _

**~ Ok good. What about Piper and Corey?**

_ ~ Piper understood, with her hiding her mark and all. Corey was supportive as always. _

**~ Good, I’m glad.**

_ ~ Yeah. _

**~ Laur, are you sure you're ok? You sound quiet.**

_ ~ Yeah I'm ok Cam. It's just been a long day.  _

Cam stared at his phone rereading over their text messages. Something was off about Lauren, but he wasn't sure what. He had a feeling she wasn't telling him something, and that that made an unsettling pit grow in his stomach. He knew how haunting the Brooks’ practices could be, and he didn’t want Lauren’s innocence to be tarnished any more than it already had. However, he knew first hand how stubborn Lauren could be, and if she didn’t want him to know, then she wasn’t going to tell him. He sighed to himself and responded reluctantly, praying that she was safe and that she would be ok.

**~ Ok Laur. Why don't you get some sleep then, it's getting late.**

_ ~ Yeah, I will Cam. Goodnight. _

And that was just what she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's Chapter 2! I'm quickly realising how much I hate editing, so excuse me if there's any mistakes in here. I'm starting on Chapter 3 today, should be up by tomorrow or wednesday. 
> 
> Comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	3. Pounding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new package allows for a new chapter in Lauren's life, but for better of worse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter yay!!! Theres some time skipping and I hope it's not too rushed.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS: This chapter does contain abuse from Lauren's parents. It is not against any of the kids, but if this triggers you, please skip from under the page cut (~~~~~) to where it says 2 years later..., also in this chapter is a panic/anxiety atack, but Lauren gets it under control and it isn't too bad.
> 
> Happy Reading!

**_A few days later…_ **

Lauren woke up to the sound of Piper’s voice pounding in her ears. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced around her room just to find it empty.  _ W-what? _ She closed her eyes again as the pain in her head became close to unbearable. 

“Lauren!” yelled Piper from the front door. Lauren groaned as she rolled over. So Piper  _ had _ called her. She rolled over and sat up on the edge of her bed.

“What,” she voiced groggily. She didn’t know why she felt like this. Every bone in her body felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, her muscles ached with soreness. Theoretically, she knew it was because of denying the multiple drops that have been haunting her, but she hadn’t known it would feel like  _ this. _

“Lauren, there's a package here for you!” Piper called, impatient. “I’m throwing it away if you don't get down here in 5, 4, 3, 2-”

“I'm coming Piper, calm down!” Lauren exclaimed, all this yelling causing her headache to get worse. Lauren walked down the stairs and went to get the package from Piper. _ Did I order something?  _ The past few days seemed really blurry for Lauren. She had stayed home for the most part, feeling too drained to do much of anything. She knew she would have to go out son, after canceling on Cammy for 2 days in a row he was bound to get suspicious. Lauren reached out to grab the small box from Piper’s hand but it was pulled back abruptly from her reach.

“What is it?” Piper asked mischievously. Normally she wouldn't care, but the last time Lauren had ordered something was… Actually she didn’t remember. Packages were usually gaming things for Corey, or gifts for his sub. Occasionally it was new coverage or makeup products for Piper, and sometimes there'd be huge packages filled with who knows what from their parents. They all avoided those. But Lauren? She was always too cautious about her money to spend it on anything for herself.

“Why do you care?” Lauren asked irritably. She really didn't want to be having this conversation with Piper right now. She just wanted to go back upstairs and blackout. She was struggling not to flinch at the hammering in her own head, and each minute she spent talking to Piper just made it ten times worse. 

“Seems like you don't want me to know… maybe I should just look for myself,” Piper said, pulling back a piece of tape on the box. She didn't know why Lauren had been so bad-tempered lately, but it was pissing her off. All she's done is lay in her bed and occasionally eat the food Corey brings her. Piper didn't know what had brought this on. All she knew is that she better get it under control soon before their parents took notice and something went wrong. 

“Piper piper stop please don’t open it, I don't even know what it is.” Lauren pleaded. “Just, show me the label and I’ll tell you.” She breathed out. Piper turned the box so that the label was facing Lauren and watched as her eyes scanned the small white sticker. “Oh,” Lauren said quietly.  _ It's my substop.  _ “It's just the coverage I bought,” she told Piper. “Thanks.” She grabbed the box and ran upstairs. Technically she hadn’t lied, the foundation she bought was in the box too.  _ Thank god  _ she thought. There had been a close call last night when Corey had brought dinner to her room. As he was setting her plate down on the dresser, she turned her head to thank him and the spot below her ear had brushed against his elbow. She was barely able to contain the whimper that almost escaped her body.  _ Shit, that hurt.  _ As soon as Corey left she brought her hand up to that spot and softly ran her fingertips over the extremely sensitive skin there. She knew that it was her marking coming in, and that soon the dark black coloring would start to show. The foundation had come just in time, as had the substop. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but these horrible aches and pains she had been feeling had to have been the early stages of subsickness. Besides a cold and fever, subsickness signs could also be a lack of appetite and body pains. Luckily she now had her substop to make this all go away. Lauren quickly opened the box and grabbed what looked like a pack of gum. She glanced over the directions quickly before popping out one of the pills and grabbing a glass of water. She swallowed the pill and almost immediately began to feel some relief. The throbbing in her head slowed to a dull ache, and she started to feel as if she could walk down the stairs without breaking down in exhaustion. Slipping her phone from its spot on the dresser, where it had sat once her head couldn't handle the light anymore, Lauren unlocked it and looked at the several messages she had received, all from Cammy.  _ Great, he's upset.  _ Reading them, Lauren quickly typed out a response and got up to go downstairs.

~  **Hey Laur, whats up**

**~ Laur, are you there?**

**~ Lauren, call me when you get a chance**

**~ Laur that cool new restaurant just opened today, wanna go check it out?**

**~ Lauren, answer please, you’re scaring me**

**~ Did I do something?**

**~ Lauren I need you to respond**

**~ Laur, please answer, I need to know your ok**

**~** _ Hi Cam, I’m ok _

As soon as Lauren got downstairs to the kitchen and opened the fridge, her phone started to ding like crazy. Looking down, unsurprisingly, it was Cammy. He was in between freaking out and yelling at her, and crying tears of happiness that she was alive.

**~ Lauren?!?!?**   
  


**~ You’re ok! Thank god**

**~ I was so close to coming over to your house**

**~ WHAT WERE YOU THINKING**

**~ you didn't respond for two whole days?!?!?** ****  
  


**~I'm so happy you’re ok**

**~ please don't do that ever again**

**~ what happened?**

Hoping to put him at ease, Lauren decided to save her meal for a little later and responded to Cameron.

~ _ I was just sick _

_ ~ couldn't really look at my phone _

**~ why didn't you answer my calls?!?! Are you ok??**

_ ~ I'm fine, Cammy, I promise. I was probably sleeping. _

_ ~ You wanna go to that new restaurant now? I haven't eaten yet and it sounds pretty good _

**~ YOU HAVEN'T EATEN?!?!?**

~  _ I said yet Cammy, calm down _

~ _ so, lunch? _

**~ I'll be there in 10**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lauren returned home late that night, having lost track of time. She unlocked the front door and was surprised to find nobody in the kitchen or living room.  _ Where's Piper, or Corey?  _ Her question was answered when she heard banging and yelling beneath the floor. 

“You worthless piece of shit, you don't deserve to live!” The sound of Mrs. Brooks' voice boomed even from upstairs. “Feels good, doesn't it? You like this, you like having everything stripped of you. You’re disgusting.” The crack of a whip hitting skin and a cry of pain followed.  _ Oh god, it's one of those nights.  _ Lauren ran upstairs towards her siblings’ rooms, hoping and praying that they were ok. 

“Corey, Piper?!?” Lauren called out frantically. She ran down the hall and into Piper’s room.  _ Shit, nobody’s here!  _ “Piper?! Corey?! Where are you?!?” she called running towards Corey’s room.  _ Please please please.  _ She let out a sigh of relief as she saw Piper and Corey sitting on the bed, both with headphones on.  _ They’re ok. _ Corey looked up at her and gave a shy smile.

“Come here, it's ok,” Corey said calmly. “Here, put these on,” he said, handing her a pair of extra headphones. Lauren took them and plugged them into her phone, turning on her music full blast. As she sat down on the bed with her two siblings, Lauren tried to calm her racing heart.  _ Come on, not now.  _ She couldn't have either one of them noticing her lasting panic, she had to calm down. She thought of the substop pack sitting on her dresser.  _ No, you already took today’s, just breathe.  _ She focused on timing her breaths to the speed of her music and closed her eyes, starting to doze off. She could only hope that she could learn to manage this anxiety, or she was soon to be in big trouble.

**_2 years later…_ **

Lauren woke up and took her pill, not even hearing the incoming call on her phone. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, waiting for the effects of her pills to set in. Over time, their effects have taken longer to kick in. As she went back to her room she finally saw a missed call on her phone.  _ Oh, Cammy called.  _ She didn't know what she would do without Cammy. He seemed to be the only one keeping her sane these days. Her parents have gotten worse, not caring anymore if what they were doing in the basement was heard, sometimes not even making it to the basement. Luckily the nightmares that used to haunt her sleep have been subdued mostly by her pills, only showing up when she forgot or when things got really bad. Piper moved out. I mean, who could blame her. Things weren't going very well at home, and she knew Corey had plans to move in with his sub, Quinn, next year anyways. Quinn was a nice sweet girl. She and Corey had been together since they were 14, and they were good for each other. Lauren had spent some time with them at Quinn’s house when Cammy was busy and things were rough at home. Although they were super welcoming and nice to her, she didn't want to spend too much time with them. She often felt like she was intruding, and it was sometimes too difficult to be surrounded by the things she couldn't have. Watching Quinn be cared for by her brother just showed her what she was missing out on, and-  _ Stop. Don't go there.  _ Sometimes she dug herself in a hole of negative thoughts and struggled to get out. Lauren looked over at her half-empty pack of pills before turning away back to her phone.  _ Not yet. I can wait. I’m fine.  _ The urge to take more than one of her pills was growing stronger each day. She knew she shouldn't take more, and once she gave in it would be almost impossible to stop. The substop was super addictive, more than she had initially expected, and it took most of her self control to stop herself each morning. Usually, once she got her day started she was able to forget the urge, but the very mornings were the hardest. Remembering that Cammy had called, she clicked  **call back** and brought the phone to her ear. Not even two rings later Lauren heard Cameron’s chipper voice.  _ Thank god.  _ Cammy really was the only thing that kept her spirits up these days. Sometimes she felt like it would just be easier to give in to her urges, that maybe if she did she would be able to manage better on her own. But every morning when she heard Cammy’s optimistic voice, she knew that he would want her to keep resisting, to keep trying. If only he knew the real reason she was struggling so much. 

“Good morning Lauren! What a beautiful day to be aliiiiive!” Cam said, over exaggerating as always. I was cloudy outside today, 55 degrees. Nothing special. “How has your morning been today?” He asked.

“Eh, you know, the usual,” Lauren replied, slowly gaining more liveliness. Lauren didn’t notice the worry in Cam’s voice when he asked her that question. Unbeknown to Lauren, Cameron really worried about her. He knew things were getting worse for her at home, and always made an effort to take some of the stress off of her shoulders. That's why he always made sure to call her every morning and make sure she got out of bed. She was only 15, yet she had been forced to grow up more than most of the people graduating. He couldn't wait for the day he could take her away from her parents. 

“You gonna be ready for me when I get there?” he asked. “And yes, I am coming over and we are going to the movies to see that new show out today. I don't care if you think it's mushy, I think it's cute and I want to see it, and you're coming,” Cam exclaimed.

“I'll be ready, just don't drive too fast,” Lauren said, smiling. She could always count on Cammy to make her smile, even if it took some more effort than it used to. She got up off her bed and got into some jeans and a sweater. She knew Cameron would yell at her for ‘dressing too warm’ but she didn't care.. She liked the feel of the sweater against her skin, which had become much more sensitive to touch over time. Running into the bathroom, she took her makeup and covered the bold sub marking underneath her ear and set it down. She went back into her room to grab her phone and keys, catching sight of the pack of pills still sitting on her dresser.  _ I don't need them, she _ told herself. The internal battle going on inside her was building up, and on a last-second decision she grabbed her pack and walked out of her room. True to his word, Cammy arrived at her house not a minute later. She got in the car smiling and shook her head slightly. Cammy had just gotten his own car for his 16th birthday and would use anything as an excuse to drive it. Lucky for him Lauren was a year younger and needed the ride. 

“So, have you eaten yet?” Cammy asked her. Just as Lauren was about to tell him she was fine, Cammy interrupted. “Nevermind, I know the answer to that. We’ll stop at the diner next door to the theater, I could eat something anyways.” It still surprised Lauren how well Cammy knew her, yet she couldn't be more thankful. 

“You can always eat more Cammy,” Lauren laughed in response, happy she was feeling better from earlier.

“Yeah, so? You got a problem with that?” Cammy asked jokingly.

“I don’t, but your metabolism might,” Laren said, sucking air in through her teeth as she jokingly glanced down at Cammy’s stomach. She knew it wasn’t true, Cameron liked to drag her to the gym at all hours, and was in perfect shape. He had never had to worry about what he ate, even if it was way too much than what was healthy.

“My metabolism is perfectly fine thank-you-very-much,” Cam said confidently, puffing out his chest. Seeing him like that made Lauren smile, happy that she was out and about. Cammy looked back at her and smiled as well. It warmed his heart to see her happy. It was moments like these that made up for the rough patches. 

“Eyes on the road Mr.! I don't need to get in a car crash right now,” Lauren said jokingly. There was nobody on the road and Cammy had barely glanced at her, but she knew how flustered he’d get if she questioned his driving skills, and she was correct.

“Woah woah woah there missy. I don't know about you, but I seem to be the one with the driver’s license here, so I wouldn't be questioning my skills if I were you,” Cammy said defensively. He risked another glance over at her and saw her holding back laughter and finally realized what she was up to. “No way,” he said deadpan. “I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU WERE MESSING WITH ME THIS WHOLE TIME?!?!” And finally, Lauren broke out into laughter. Cammy tried to keep a straight face but it didn't last long. He started laughing as well and soon enough the two of them couldn't stop. It was the happiest they'd both been in a very long time. Finally by the time they started to calm down they were turning the corner into the diner’s parking lot. Getting out of the care they walked side by side inside and got a table for two. They'd both been here several times before and already had their orders memorized. They got their meals and ate quickly, not wanting to miss their movie. As they ran next door to the theater, Lauren went to go get seats as Cammy went to go get popcorn, even after just eating. Lauren rolled her eyes at him as he ran off, and she turned and went to get seats. She wasn't worried about finding space, as there weren't many people in the theater. As she got into their movie, she picked two seats towards the center and sat down to watch the commercials. Cameron still hasn't gotten back yet, so she sat back and watched as trailers for different upcoming movies played on. She enjoyed watching the different colors and pictures go across the screen, however, there was one that seemed to catch her eye more than others. It was a trailer for a new movie called, ‘enlighten me.’ As Lauren watched she saw the plot revolve around a girl and her significant other. Normally this wouldn't bother Lauren, but the trailer started getting pretty intimate, and ever since she’d started on substop she had become super sensitive and aware of her emotions and before she knew if her breaths became labored and she was headed straight into a panic attack.  _ Breathe breathe breathe come on you're ok breathe breathe breathe.  _ Her thoughts were not slowing down and if she couldn't get herself under control someone would notice and  _ shit Cammy’s gonna be back, what do I do?  _ And suddenly in the midst of her panic she remembered the pack of pills she had grabbed on her way out of the house. She knew in her gut that she shouldn't take one, but-  _ ah screw it.  _ She popped one of the tiny white pills out of the package and grabbed her water bottle from the diner and swallowed it down. Slowly but surely her panic began to resolve.  _ Finally.  _ And just in time too. Just as she put the pills back in her pocket and settled down, Cammy walked into the theater.  _ That was too close.  _

“I got popcorn!” Cammy exclaimed. “Now let's watch this thing!” he said, pumping his fists in the air. Lauren smiled, feeling much calmer now. “Cuddle close,” Cammy said, laying back in his seat and grabbing his popcorn. Lauren sighed, snuggling into her seat stealing a bit of popcorn from Cam. Yeah, for now, she could relax. This was good. And she was finally able to relish in that peace and allowed for the movie to calm her mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop woop! New chapter! I hope the time skip wasnt too rushed, but most of the plot I have planned takes place even further in the future. I think that skip will take place next chapter, but you let me know in the comments how you feel about that.
> 
> Comments, suggestions, let me know below!!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Meeting "The Boys"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lauren is finally introduced to the group of people who would come to change her life. Everything's great, until thought of her parents come and sour the mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! A little bit of a longer one for you today!, We're starting to get to the good stuff now...
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Overdosing on drugs (nothing happens with it yet, but Lauren is taking too many), Mentions of parental abuse
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one, so I hope you enjoy!

**2 years later…**

“Cammy, I don’t get what the big deal is,” Lauren said, grabbing her pack and popping two pills into her mouth, swallowing them dry. She heard an extremely dramatic gasp come across over the phone.

“You don’t think your 18th birthday is a big deal?!?” Cammy exclaimed. “This is the best day of your life! The day you become an adult! The day you can finally escape those monsters and we can move in with Finn and the boys!” Cammy practically squealed.

“Woah woah woah slow down Mr.,” Lauren said as she went into the bathroom to start covering her mark. “Just because the perfect scenario for you would be for me to move in with you and your  _ boyfriend’s _ little buddies and for us to live happily ever after, does not mean it's realistic or would ever happen. I mean, come on, I don't even  _ know _ them,” Lauren said. Cammy had met his boyfriend Finn during his first year of college, and soon after was introduced to his whole group of friends, which consisted of like 7 other guys who all lived together in one giant building. Now, was Lauren against moving in with them? Not necessarily. She had heard a lot about the group and they all seemed like decent people. Heck, she had even met Finn personally several times, and he was super funny and nice. He was another level 7 switch, just like Cammy, and they were totally smitten with each other. She had no doubts that every person in their little group was a decent person, no, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was her. She was sure that nobody in their little club would want her to be there. They practically already had Cammy living with them, he was there so often, and their whole group was just boys. Surely they wouldn’t want her, she’d just be like, 8th wheeling. I mean sure, they might let her live there, but they wouldn't want her there, and she was pretty sure that was worse. “I just plan on moving into a small apartment nearby Cam. I mean I’m already going to be struggling to pay rent, even without college, and I could never afford to live with them. And anyways, I wouldn't want to intrude! Though I don't know why you don't just move in there, you practically live there already,” Lauren said chuckling. She had already come to terms with the fact that she wasn't going to college. There was absolutely no way she'd be able to get the money on her own, and it wasn't like her parents were going to help her out. Pulling a jean jacket out of her closet, she went downstairs and grabbed an apple, not even glancing back to see her parents in the living room with another one of their ‘toys.’ She popped another pill into her mouth on her way out the door, sitting down on the small swing on their front porch to wait for Cammy.  _ Now is not the time to think about them, only 2 more weeks, and you can leave. _

“Ok, first off, you are not living in one of those pathetic attempts at an apartment that I've seen pulled up on your computer, just no. Whether or not you move in with me, which you will as I am confident they will change your mind, you will have me to help you afford something actually liveable. And I haven't moved in there yet because I wouldn't dare leave you with those monsters in your home all alone. We will move in together the day you turn 18 because you can bet I’m not letting you stay there a minute longer than you have to. Now for the other thing, I don't know who told you that you would be intruding, but they were wrong. The boys have been begging me to meet you since the day I told them about you, which was practically a week into meeting them. They have been waiting to finally meet you in person, after hearing me talk to them about you for months. And the only reason they haven’t is because you keep coming up with excuses not to go, ‘not wanting to bother them.’“ Cammy said, doing his best impersonation of Lauren for that last bit. He knew that the boys would welcome Lauren into the family, just as they did him. They were some of the best people he’s ever met, and he knew that they would be so good for Lauren. She was right, he basically lived there with them, except for the times where he was with Lauren. “Now hurry up and get in the car, we have somewhere to be,” Cammy said, pulling up to her house.

Lauren picked up her stuff and ran towards the car, slipping into the shotgun seat. “Where are we even going? You literally just told me to meet you in 10 and to actually get dressed,” Lauren asked curiously. Cammy was known for his ‘attempts’ at surprises, but it was rare that he actually managed to keep something from her.

“Well now that you asked, we’re actually going to the apartment right now!” Cammy said enthusiastically. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get Lauren to go there willingly, she was too stubborn for that. So he decided to trick her into going there, and it worked. “I knew you'd want to be dressed up to go there, even though you totally don't have to be and I'm going in sweats, so that's why I told you to get dressed,” Cameron said calmly.

“WHAT? Lauren screeched in surprise. “Cammy! You can't just do this!” Lauren said frantically, grabbing one of the pills from her pack and swallowing it down. Cammy looked over at her questioning and she quickly responded, “Allergy pills.” He just nodded and looked back at the road.

“Yes Laur, I can. And I know you want to be mad at me, but just calm down, ok? Everythings gonna be fine, the girls will be there today, and it's just gonna be us hanging out, it'll be fun,” Cammy told her reassuringly.

“Girls?” Lauren asked. She had never heard of any girls in the group before. She thought it was only the boys living there. At least, that's what she had heard.

“Yes Lauren, girls. If you had calmed down for a hot sec and just let me explain things to you a bit, you would've known that both Luka’s dom and Jonas’ sub were girls, not that far from your age. “And yes, before you ask, I know I've mentioned that all the boys kinda dom Luka a bit, and it's true. He's the only sub in the group and he doesn't live with his dom obviously, so the boys offered to cover for her when she couldn’t be there, and they have a whole arrangement. None of them have actual subs except for Jonas, and his girl’s really sweet and doesn’t mind him helping Luka out at all,” Cammy said. “So yeah, they're all just one big family, and help each other out,” he finished.

“Wow,” Lauren whispered. She hadn't known any of that, well except for the domming Luka bit.  _ I guess I really didn't know that much about them.  _ “That seemed, really nice actually,” she said.

“Yeah, and they totally don't care that you're hiding your mark, Benny did for like 3 years and they were totally cool with it, so don't stress,” Cammy said. “Now, if you're gonna freak out, do it now, cause we’re like two minutes away,” he said.

Lauren took a huge breath, trying to calm her nerves. Cammy was right, she was freaking out a little. Ok, a lot.  _ What if they don’t like me, what if I screw up, what if- _

_ “ _ Ok, enough of that,” Cammy interrupted her thoughts. “I can see you getting all insecure in your head, and I don't like it. You're going to be absolutely fine, just be yourself and just relax like we usually do. And if at any point you're feeling overwhelmed or anything, I’ll be right there the whole time, ok?” Cammy said. 

“Yeah, ok,” Lauren said, letting out some of the nerves traveling through her body. Cammy would be right there, she would be fine. Taking one last breath, she saw Cammy turn into the driveway of a big apartment complex. She knew that the group had to have a big space with all their people, but damn this was big. Cammy put the car into park and started to get out. Lauren quickly followed, grabbing her jacket that she had taken off in the car. They walked up to the front door Cam knocked, hearing someone yell “coming!” from the inside. The door opened to reveal Finn, Cammy’s boyfriend with a giant smile on his face.

“Cammyyyy!” Finn squealed, pulling him into a hug. As they pulled away he said, “Lauren! I’m so happy you could come, everyone’s been so excited to meet you!”

“Hey Finn, thanks for having me,” she said sweetly, feeling shy being there, but happy the first person she saw was someone she knew. Finn turned to let them in and headed into the living room. Cammy gave her shoulder a light squeeze as they followed closely behind towards the sound of laughter. As Finn walked in they heard someone ask, “Who was it?” and Finn just sat down smiling. Cammy and Lauren entered not long after and Lauren looked around. She saw some faces of shock, but most of them were looking at her smiling. She looked over to Cammy, who gave her an encouraging smile, but you could see in his eyes how truly happy he was. 

Breaking the silence, Cammy spoke. “So, as I’m sure most of you know, this is Lauren, Lauren, this is the group,” Cammy said smiling. “You know Finn, Cammy said, blushing slightly, so here we have Jonas, he's a dom, level 8,” Cammy said pointing to a tall, broad, guy standing in the corner of the room. “And next to Jonas we have Harper, his sub, also level 8,” Cammy gestured to the small girl sitting next to Jonas. “Next up is Luka, a sub, level 6,” Cammy said, signaling to the lean boy on the couch, whose head was resting on the shoulder of the only other girl in the room besides Lauren and Harper. “And that's Brynn, his dom, also level 6,” Cammy said as Brynn gave Lauren a small wave. She waved back, smiling shyly. “There's Benny, dom, level 9,” Cammy said, indicating the guy sitting on the floor with one leg outstretched and the other holding up his chin. “And lastly here we have Noah, dom, level 10,” Cammy said pointing to a tall, fit guy sitting in an armchair over by the tv.  _ Woah.  _ Lauren thought.  _ He’s, wow. And level 10? Holy crap.  _ She smiled shyly in his direction and he grinned back. 

“So Lauren, now that Cammy has given you the most basic introduction in all of history,” Jonas said sarcastically, “why don't you both sit down and we all just talk a little?” Everyone laughed and Lauren found a spot to sit on the floor while Cammy went and shared a seat with Finn. Conversations started up and Lauren just listened, starting to relax a little bit as everyone carried on like before. Lauren was just laughing at a comment Cammy had made when a voice called her from behind. 

“So Lauren, tell me about yourself,” said Noah from where he was sitting behind her. Lauren turned around to face him and thought about her answer. 

“Um, I don't really know what to say. I'm a dom, level 5. Average, not really that interesting.” Lauren said in response. 

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s true,” Noah said. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but to me, you seem like a very shy person, however, underneath, there's something more. I may not know exactly what that something is yet, but with time, I hope to find out,” Noah said, looking at Lauren with intense but caring eyes.

“Um I-,” Lauren said, not exactly knowing what to say. She knew he was right, but it felt weird having someone know so much about her in such little time. “Wow, nobody's ever really cared before, I guess. Except for Cammy, you know. Um, here, I’ll try again. I have two older siblings, both doms. They're both in college now, they moved out as soon as they turned 18, not wanting to stay with, um, well, my parents…” her voice trailed off. Noah laid a hand on her knee and squeezed lightly, encouraging her to continue. “My parents aren't the greatest, so nobody really wanted to stay at home. I mean, I can't blame them, I’m doing the same thing. My birthdays in 2 weeks and I’m going to move into a small apartment nearby somewhere, anywhere I can afford really. I've been saving up and I'm trying to find work, but without a degree or anything, it's kinda hard.Though I'd rather be struggling for money than be stuck at home with them so… it's ok,” She said.

“You could always stay here with us, you know. We’ve told Cammy time and time again, we have an extra room here and we would love to have you,” Noah said gently. He normally had a pretty hard exterior, but something about Lauren made him feel like she needed something softer.

“I could never ask that of you guys, and I would never be able to afford it. Plus you guys barely even know me, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” she said, looking away slightly. She didn't want to seem like a pity case, and she would never admit to it, but it felt so good to have people actually taking interest in her and caring about her, even though she'd only known them for a couple of hours.

“Well, I'm the one who rented this place in the first place, so I'm not asking, I'm telling. You living here would be a joy, and you wouldn't have to pay rent at all. Trust me, we have more than enough to afford it, and you wouldn't have to worry about that. I don't know whoever made it seem like you weren't wanted, but we all want you to be here. We've literally been asking Cammy about you forever, and I for one am very happy you're here,” he said. He had a feeling he knew who had put all these insecurities in her, but he didn’t want to bring up a sore subject if he didn't have to. 

Lauren blushed softly, feeling overwhelmed by all the nice things he was saying. It had been a while since anyone had actually paid attention to her. “Wow, thank you. I still have to figure some things out, but if things happen the way Cammy predicts, I’ll be living here as soon as he can get me out of the house.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Cammy. Well, we’d happily have you here, but enough of this subject. I heard you say your siblings are in college, why aren't you going?” he asked.

“Pretty much the same reason as before, I guess. I could never afford it. My sister got a scholarship so she only needed money for rent, and she found work pretty quickly. My brother had his girlfriend, and her parents were super generous and were helping him with the fees. I've never been bright throughout highschool. No matter how much I tried, my grades were never the greatest, so there was no chance of a scholarship for me, and there weren't really too many people to encourage me anyways. So I kinda just accepted the fact that I wasn't going and spent more of my time trying to find money and stuff,” she said, already accepting of the fact.

“Oh, that sucks. I was never good at school either, but luckily I scored high enough to get into an online school that I can get my degree in while still working with my parent business. I got really lucky I guess,” he said.  _ Poor girl _ he thought. How so much bad could haunt someone so good he would never know. 

“Yeah, it's ok though. I've got Cammy on my side, and I won't be stuck with my parents for too much longer. I've survived this long, I can go 2 more weeks,” she said.

“Well, you've got us now as well, so you're not alone,” Noa said, smiling softly at her. Lauren smiled back and turned as Cammy called her and asked a question, trying to prove a point in his conversation with Luka. Noah watched as Lauren laughed and he smiled to himself. It was good to see her at ease, after all the stress she must have encountered through her years. He turned his attention back to the conversation and allowed for the comfort of his favorite people to overcome him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had been talking for hours, everyone was relaxed and in a good mood. It was the best that Lauren had felt in a while, and she didn't want it to end. Nobody had really realized the time until Benny looked at his watch out of habit.

“Woah, it got late,” Benny said. “We should probably start cleaning up.”

“Yeah, you're right. Harper, Brynn, you guys staying for the night?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna stick around for the weekend,” Brynn said.

“Same here,” said Harper, snuggling up with Jason.

“Cammy, Lauren, you guys should just stay over,” Finn said.

“Yeah, we have the extra room, and well, Cammy, you'd be alright,” Jonas said, looking over at Finn and Cammy cuddled up on the couch.

“I’m down,” Cammy said, having slept over several times before. He looked over at Lauren and she shook her head slightly. Her parents had already been in the living room when she left, she didn't know what shape they would be in when she got home, especially if she showed up the following morning. Who knows what they would do to her.

“I can't, I uh, um, Cammy?” She looked over to him, hoping she got her plea to explain the situation. She hoped he would understand that she couldn't stay over for a reason, not that she didn't just not want to. She just didn't know if she would be able to get the words out without breaking down. 

“Oh shit, ok. Um well, as most of you know, Lauren’s parents aren't ideal..” 

“You mean the monsters?” Benny interrupted.

“The ones Luka said he'd slit their throats?” Jonas said.

“The ones Brynn had to punish Luka over for threatening to slit their throats?” Noah added.

“Heyyyy,” Luka said, hiding in Brynn’s neck as he was reminded of that.

“Yeah, them. Well, sometimes they’re worse than others, and Lauren I’m sorry I didn't realize this sooner, but apparently today’s been one of the hard days and-”

“And if I'm not home tonight I don't know that they won't turn their actions against me,'' Lauren finished for him.

“Shit,” she heard Noah curse behind her. She could see anger in some eyes and sympathy in others. She felt shaky under everyone's gaze and automatically pressed her hand to the pack of pills in her pocket. Though, there was no way she would be able to take one here without people noticing.

“It’s fine, Laur, I'll take you home,” Cammy said, pulling away from Finn.

“No Cammy, I don't want you going near there,” Finn said, pulling him back.

“Finn, I'll be fine, I’ll just drop her off and go home.”

“No Cam, if it's really bad right now, there's no guarantee they won't go after you. If they'll go after a dom like Lauren, who's to say they won't go after you, a switch,” Finn said, not budging on his decision.

“Finn, she needs a ride and I'm the only one who knows where she lives. I can't just put her in danger by staying here like that,” Cammy said.

“Cameron, I said you're not going there, so sit your ass back down,” Finn said, starting to bring out the dom in his voice.

“But-” Cammy started but was interrupted.

“No, Finn's right, I don't want either of you going back there right now. You might get in trouble for staying here, but you're in more danger going back there now. I'd rather take the chance of them getting angry at you for staying here and bring you back in the morning when I can make sure you're getting home safe,” Noah said.

“Yeah you shouldn't just be walking into danger like that Laur, it's not ok,” said Jonas.

“I’m fine guys, I can just call a cab. I'll sneak in my window and they won't even notice I'm late. Cammy, you stay here, it'll be fine,” Lauren said, trying to absolve the tension.

“Yeah, no, that's not happening,” Benny said.

“Yeah, sorry Laur, but we’re not letting you go back to your parents like that,” Brynn said, speaking up.

“But, I'll be fine, I promise, it's happened before…” Lauren said, quickly realizing that that was not the right thing to say.

“Yup and that's that, neither of you are going there,” Noah said anger lacing his tone.

“The fact that it's happened before is just more of a reason not to send you there, sorry” Benny added.

“But, but i-,” Lauren started, slightly shaking at the thoughts of what her parents might do if she didn’t go home.

“Laur, no matter what you say right now, we're not gonna let you go back tonight. We don't want you to get hurt, and I know we aren't in charge of you, but if you're going to do something that will know will leave you injured, you can be assured that we will do our damn best to stop you from doing it,” Jonas said.

Lauren sighed, knowing they were right, and knowing that in her current state she wouldn’t be able to deny their orders. 

Noah started to notice the uncomfortable stance in Lauren’s body, her shoulders were hunched, and her head was ducked, and her hands seemed to be shaking slightly.  _ Good job guys, we've made it worse.  _ Hoping to relieve some of the tension in her body Noah spoke. “Ok, enough of that, Finn, why don’t you go find some of the spare Cammy clothes we have somewhere, and I’ll help Lauren find her room and some sleep clothes. Everybody else, start cleaning up this mess that we've made,” he said. Walking over to Lauren, he put a hand on the small of her back and guided her over to the hallway.

Lauren shook her head, trying to throw some of the panic from her head.  _ You're a dom, you need to calm down, they're gonna know _ she told herself. She looked up from the floor and saw Noah looking at her concerned. She turned her head away breaking eye contact, not wanting to break under his gaze. He sighed and walked into a room, turning toward Lauren.

“Here's our extra room, you can stay here whenever you sleepover and if you move in. I'll go to my room and see if I have something that'll fit you for tonight, you just make yourself comfortable,” he said. As he walked out of the room, Lauren pulled out her pack and took another one of her pills.  _ How many was that today?  _ At this point, she just couldn't keep track anymore. She had fallen deep into the trap of substop addiction. 

“Ok, I know this is gonna be huge on you, but it's the smallest shirt I have and you can roll up the sweatpants,” Noah said as he walked into the room again. Lauren took the clothes from his hands and laughed, her pill taking away some of the anxiety from before and putting her more at ease.

“Yup, these will work… I think,” she laughed. She went into the bathroom that was connected to her room and closed the door. Changing quickly, she laughed as she walked back into the room. Noah looked up at her and chuckled.

“Well, that's certainly a look,” he laughed out. Lauren pretended to vogue and walk down a runway. Laughing, she gave a pose and pivoted, walking back. Noah laughed at her antics and clapped for her performance. Not being able to control her laughter anymore Lauren fell on the bed holding her stomach. It took them a minute, but eventually, they both calmed down and sat up on the bed.

“So, not to bring up a sore subject, but you said your parents might go after you, and that they'd done it before. I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to talk about it?” Noah asked. He didn’t want to push, but he was really curious and just wanted to protect Lauren. 

Expecting this, Lauren sighed and answered. “Yeah, it's happened before. My parents used to hide it, but over the years they have come to not care about who sees what they're doing. My parents are both level 10 doms, and they have very, um, toxic, views on the classification system I guess you could say. They have this idea in their heads that you are only ‘valid’ if you're a high-level dom, so much so that I had to tell them I was a level 8. Now, they have their basement, where, um, well, I’m sure you could guess what goes on down there. And, now, it's not just in the basement. And sometimes when it gets really bad, they'll turn on us, well just me I guess now, instead of their, um, yeah. So, that's why I had to go home. Before I left they had already migrated to the living room, and I know they'll probably be looking for me sometime tonight, so when they find me not home…'' Lauren shivered at the thought. Noah slid closer to Lauren and put his hand on her knee.

“Don't think about it, it'll just make it worse. We're all here to keep you safe, and I will do everything in my power to protect you for the next two weeks until you can move in here. And yes, that is an ‘I want you to move in here.’ Noah said. “Now while you're here, I don't want you to think about them. This is a safe space, and I want you to feel relaxed here ok? If you're ever overwhelmed or anything, just know this apartment is always open to you and that you are always welcome,” Noah said, meaning it. He didn't know why exactly, but something about Lauren made him just want to protect her. Lauren looked up at him and saw the honesty in his eyes. She let out a shuddering breath and gave a weak smile.

“Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me,” she said. 

“Anytime,” Noah replied. “Now, I'll let you get to bed, it's late, and everyone else is definitely heading to bed by now,” he said, heading towards the door. “We’ll talk about you going home in the morning,” he watched as Lauren climbed into bed, switching off the light and lying down.

“Goodnight, Lauren.”

“Goodnight Noah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, getting to the good parts now. I'm so excited to keep going with all these characters, I have so many plans *cue evil laugh*
> 
> Now, I feel like I have to address Ms. Rona. Quarintine has left me with a lot of time to write obviously, this story wouldn't even be out if I wasn't stuck at home right now. But I also have a ton of schoolwork to do as well. I'm doing my best to try and write everyday, or at least publish something every other day. Forgive me if that doesn't work out, but since I have so much time I'm going to try my best. This chapter was a little bit longer, maybe some more of that in the future when I get excited, idk. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, comment, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!


	5. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the time has come for Lauren leave her horrid past behind, but will her parents and her memories prevent her from truly being happy even after they're gone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lets go, Chapter 5! 
> 
> Trigger Warning: cursing and some violence, mentions of past abuse
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“This is what you get, you deserve this you worthless piece of shit, you  _ sub,  _ you- _ ” _

Lauren woke up shaking for the third time that night, visions of her parents haunting her dreams. She sat up and got out of bed, giving up on sleep. She stood up and walked out of her room and into the kitchen, hoping to grab some water and settle her nerves. However, as she walked into the kitchen, she realized she wasn’t alone. Looking up, she saw Benny sitting at the kitchen table, reading something on his phone. 

“Oh, hey. I didn’t realize anybody else would be awake...” Lauren said, sitting down across from Benny. She liked him, he seemed nice and had a really great sense of humor.

“Yeah, well, nobody usually is, except for me. Everybody else goes to bed earlier, but I’m a night owl, so…” he said. “Now what keeps you awake during crackhead hours?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Lauren replied plainly. Benny looked up at her but decided to let it slide. If she didn’t want to tell him something, then it wasn't his place to intrude. 

“Ok then, do you want something to eat?” He watched as Lauren shook her head no, deciding to change up the subject. “So, I've heard a lot of crazy stories about you and Cammy, and I just, I need to know. Can you explain the yogurt story? He asked, laughing. 

“Oh god, he told you guys about that?” she laughed. “Ok, so it went like this, we were…”

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As the sun began to rise, Noah walked into the kitchen to find Benny and Lauren laughing at the kitchen table. He looked at them both quizzically, and they looked back like it was totally normal for them to be laughing in the kitchen at 6 am. “So, you guys maybe wanna explain why you're up this early?” he asked.

“Well, I couldn't sleep, and Benny was still up, and we just started talking and kinda got carried away,” Lauren shrugged. 

“And you guys just didn't sleep,” Noah asked, still kind of in shock. He was still a little foggy from sleep, and he hadn't expected anybody else to be awake when he got up. 

“Eh, it wasn't that bad,” Benny said. “It wasn't the first time I've stayed up all night, and it sure won't be the last. I'm sure it's the same for you Lauren,” he said, looking over to see her nodding.

“Ok, well, I guess,” Noah said, still slightly flustered. “Do you want something to eat?” he asked, starting to make breakfast for himself.

“Nah, we ate a little while ago,” Lauren said, looking up as Finn came into the kitchen, dragging Cammy with him. “Well good morning lazybones,” she looked over laughing. Cammy had never been a morning person. 

All she got in return was a groan, as Cam sat down and slumped his head down on the table.

“He drank too much last night, he's hungover, he deserves it,'' Finn said, not pitying Cameron at all.

“Heyyyy,” Cammy whined out. Finn shushed him and he put his head back on the table.

“Do you guys always wake up this early,” Lauren asked. She never usually woke up before 8 on her own, and so far most of the people in the apartment were awake. 

“Finn and I, yes. Benny, well, it depends on the day. Jonas is usually up within the next hour or so, and Luka will only wake up if someone forces him too. I swear, he would sleep for a week straight if we let him,” Noah said, chuckling softly. Over the next hour and a half, everyone was awake, Jonas and Harper having come in first, and Luka later being dragged in by Brynn. They all got their preferred coffee and were settled in different spots around the kitchen. Once everything had settled down and they were all comfortable in the peaceful morning quiet, Noah spoke up.

“So I hate to ruin the morning, but there's something we need to bring up,” he said, watching as Cammy snuggled into Finn and Lauren looked down at her hands below the table. “We need to talk about Lauren's parents. Now, I know that you don't live with us yet and that we don't have any right to controlling you in any way, however, you mean a lot to all of us already and we wouldn’t want you to get hurt, especially when it puts one of us in danger as well,” he said looking over at Cammy. “And now that we know they're going to be looking for you, we have to decide how to address this and keep you safe, any ideas?” Nobody spoke up for a bit, too deep in thought.

“I’m sorry,” Lauren whispered out quietly. Noah looked over at her and realized that his words might have come across incorrectly.

“No, Lauren, it's not your fault. I never meant to make it seem that way. It's not your fault that your parents have been hurting you, and we're here to help you and make it better, ok? Now how can we get you home and make sure you're safe?” Noah asked.

“Umm, I don't really know. I can try to get in the window, try and sneak in? Best case scenario is they aren’t home, but that's very unlikely,” she said solemnly.

“How do you think they'd react if one of us came in with you?” Jonas asked. 

“Uh best case scenario, idk, maybe cuss you out? Worst case scenario…” Lauren’s voice trailed off, the words leaving her as she thought of what might happen. 

“Ok, well, cussing we can take. What if we distract them while you go inside? You said they liked high-level doms, Jonas, Noah, and I are all level 8 or higher. What if we pretend to ask them about their, uh, basement stuff? Then you can go inside and get some stuff without them noticing, right?” Benny offered.

“It might work, the only thing they like to talk about more than how terrible subs are is how great doms are, and I could go in the back door while you all talk. But, I wouldn't want you guys to have to hear what they say, they're worse than you think,” Lauren said.

Noah looked up at the boys, and they both nodded back at him. “Let’s go. Lauren, go in the back door and grab anything and everything you might need to stay with us. Jonas, Benny, put your guards up, and be prepared to keep a straight face through whatever they might say. We need to be able to distract them for as long as Lauren needs. Now let's get in the car and get this over with,” he said, Jonas and Benny following right behind him.

“Wait, what?!?” Stay with you? I thought we were just sneaking inside, so I could maybe convince them that I'd been there the whole time. You never said anything about staying with you guys!” Lauren said, running after them frantically.  _ Why did none of them look appalled when he said that? _

“Of course you’re staying with us, what’d you think, we were gonna leave you there with those monsters?” Noah said nonchalantly. “In two weeks you turn 18 and if you decide then that you don’t want to live with us anymore, then fine. But until then you’re staying with us where it’s safe and you aren’t being threatened every day by two horrible human beings. Understood?”

Lauren still felt bad about everything, and really didn’t want to burden them by living with them. However, she knew she wasn't going to sway their decision when they were like this, so she gave in and got into the car.  _ It’s just two weeks, then I can get out of their hair. _

Benny got into the driver seat, with Lauren directing them to her block, advising them not to park right in front of the house. They parked in front of Cammy’s house and got out of the car.

“Laur, really, be safe. We’ll distract them, but we need you to make sure you get everything that you will need. We don’t want to have to come back until your birthday when we can actually get everything that’s yours out of the house. Ok?” Jonas said, making sure to get his point across.

“Yeah, I’ll be fast, I promise,” Lauren said. She knew she needed to get her foundation and pills more urgently than anything, she hadn’t taken a pill since last night and she could see her mark starting to show through without her reapplying. 

“Ok, so when we get to the house, wait a few minutes before going inside so that you’re sure we have their attention,” Benny said as they walked to get closer to the house. Lauren started to walk toward the back of the house when Noah grabbed her arm.

“Hey, be safe,” he said. Lauren only nodded back at him, then ran off. The boys continued on to the house and knocked when they got to the front door. They waited a few seconds and then a tall, scruffy man came to the door.  _ So that’s her father,  _ Noah thought to himself. Stepping up, he held out his hand and introduced himself. 

“Hello sir, my name is Noah, and this is Benny and Jonas. We’re here because we have heard word of you extreme dominant activities,” he said.

“And you gotta have a problem with that?” Mr. Brooks said intimidatingly. The boys all took a small step back.  _ Lauren wasn’t kidding, he’s not fooling around.  _ Pulling himself together, Noah spoke up once more.

“Quite the opposite, sir. You see, myself and my pals here are all high-level dominants as well, and are quite curious as to your process in your practices so that we might be able to pursue them ourselves,” Noah said, hopefully convincing the large man in front of him.

“Oh, well, then why don't you come inside, sit down, and we can have this conversation,” Mr. Brooks said.

“Actually sir, if you wouldn't mind, I would much rather we talk out here. I would rather have a blank slate and not be influenced by anything I may find in your house,” Noah said.

“But of course,” Mr. Brooks said. “Hun! Come outside! We've got some people who want to learn about the slaves!” Mr. Brooks called inside. Soon after a woman just as intimidating walked outside. 

“Well hello gentlemen, I hear you're interested in our fun,” Mrs. Brooks said eerily. “Why don't we all sit down,” she said, leading the boys over to the sitting area outside on the porch.  _ Here we go _ , Noah thought to himself, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to hear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lauren opened the back door after hearing the front door slam shut. _Ok, they're out, time to go._ She ran up to her room and grabbed a duffle bag from her closet, packing what clothes she could and grabbing all of her pill stock out of her draw. She went into the bathroom, grabbing her foundation and toothbrush, making sure she grabbed all of her regular toiletries. Going back into her bedroom, she double-checked that she had everything that she would need, before running back downstairs and going back out the door, texting Jonas that she was done and heading back towards the car. 

Her hands were shaking slightly, and her breath was picking up, so she was thankful for when she could get in the car and take one of the pills she grabbed. Not long after she saw the boys heading back, no emotions on their faces.  _ Great, I knew we shouldn't have done this, they are disgusted by me, they're gonna hate me,  _ she thought, curling in on herself. The boys just got in the car and started driving. Nobody moved or said anything until they pulled into the driveway, Benny putting the car in park.

Lauren went to get out of the car when suddenly she was pulled into a huge hug by all the boys. She could see tears in their eyes and suddenly Lauren started shaking once again. All the emotions she'd been hiding over the past few years just started to flow out. All the nights she’d held in her tears, not wanting to show weakness to her parents, all the times she wished she could have just broken down, she was making up for that now. The boys just held her as her frame shook from the tiny sobs leaving her body. They didn't leave her until her cries slowed down and the shaking stopped. There was no judgment in their eyes, no pity, just gentle, supportive looks that made her feel all warm inside. She finally pulled away from the hug once she felt calm enough that she wouldn't break at the slightest touch, and looked up at the boys. 

“Lauren,” Noah started. “We are so proud of you. I will never know how you were able to put up with them for so long, you are so strong. Just know, we are always with you, you will never have to face them alone ever again if we have anything to do with it. Ok?” he said. Lauren looked at the other two boys who were nodding their heads in agreement. She took another breath and nodded, not feeling strong enough for words at the moment, but grateful all the same. Once they all collected themselves they got out of the car and headed back inside, thankful that their trip was over. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**2 weeks later…**

The past two weeks had flown by for Lauren. She was in heaven, getting closer with the boys and spending every day with what she now considered to be her best friends. She couldn't even imagine what it would have been like if she hadn't met them and decided to move in. And that brings her to today. Her 18th birthday, the day she could officially leave her parents forever. The day she had been both thrilled for and dreading for the past year. She knew she would finally get to leave no matter what, but she also knew that it wouldn't be easy and she would have to go back to her parents’ house.

Lauren was pulled from her thoughts as Cammy came into her room to wake her up. “Hey Laur, happy birthday,” he said. He knew to tread lightly as he knew Lauren was nervous for today. “You ready to get up?” he asked.

Lauren looked up at Cammy and smiled shyly. “Yeah Cam, I’m up. Thank you,” she said, taking a deep breath in. She sat up on her bed and Cammy sat down in front of her.

“Are you ready for today?” he asked.

“Ready as I'll ever be,” she said in return.

“Ok then, I’ll let you get ready,” he said, getting up to leave the room.

“Thanks, Cammy,” she said, going into the bathroom and swallowing down two of her pills, then covering up her mark. Then, pulling on a hoodie and a pair of leggings, she walked out of her room and down the hallway.

Just as she got to the kitchen she heard a huge “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” being shouted at her as everyone jumped out. Even Brynn and Harper were there, who she hadn't seen since the first weekend she had met everyone. 

“Guys, this is so sweet, you didn't have to do this,” she said smiling, happy beyond belief.

“Yes we did, it's your 18th birthday and the day that you can ‘officially’ move in with us,” Jonas said.

“Speaking of which, do you guys just wanna go now and get this over with?” Noah asked, looking over at Lauren.

“Yeah, we might as well,'' Lauren said solemnly, heading to the door. Jonas, Benny, and Noah followed closely behind. They got in the car and Lauren started shaking slightly. Jonas, sitting next to her, pulled her close and ran his hand up and down her arm.

“Hey, it's going to be alright. They aren't going to do anything to you or any of us, ok?” Jonas said, pulling her in tight.

“Yeah,” Lauren nodded, and tried to calm herself down while they drove back to her house. When they arrived, they all got out of the car and headed towards the front door. Lauren didn't say anything as Noah knocked, words being too much effort due to the nerves running through her body. As her dad opened the door, Noah pushed past him and walked into the house.

“Hey, how- wait what are you doing?” Mr. Brooks said as three boys barged into his house. He then saw his daughter enter after them and start heading upstairs. “Lauren? Where the hell have you been and what the fuck are you and these guys doing here?” he asked.

Noah walked right up to him and said, “We are here to get your daughter’s stuff. It is her 18th birthday and she is finally leaving you monsters for good.”

“Oh really,” Mr. Brooks said. “You finally found some doms who will treat you like the slut you really are, huh Lauren. You are just as bad as the toys in our basement, you worthless piece of shit.”

The sound of Noah’s fist hitting Mr. Brooks' face could be heard all the way up in Lauren’s room where Jonas, Benny, and Lauren were grabbing the last of her stuff. At this point, a constant trail of tears could be found streaming down Lauren’s face as she finished cleaning out her dresser. She turned back around to Jonas and Benny who had just finished emptying her closet and desk and tilted her head towards the staircase as an indication to leave. They both nodded in return and started towards the staircase. Lauren took one last look around the room that she had grown up in, and left, leaving all the horrible memories behind. They all walked out the front door once more, with Noah following behind Lauren with a hand on the small of her back. They went to the car and loaded up the bags, getting into their seats. Before Lauren could get in, Noah pulled her into a hug and she buried her face into his chest.

“They're gone,” he whispered. And he was right, they were. Finally, Lauren was safe from the terrifying creatures that claimed to be her parents. Finally, she was free. Happy to leave all of it behind, she pulled away from Noah and got into the car, buckling her seatbelt. Finally relieved, she turned to the boys and smiled.

“Let's go home,” she said and watched as the house disappeared into the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooo it's getting good! Sorry this took a little bit longer, I kept getting stuck on one part and I wanted to get it right. Next chapter is a really big one and I'm so excited! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. She's finally freeeee!
> 
> Did you know comments make me write faster? (true fact)
> 
> Please leave any comments or suggestions below, I hope you enjoyed!


	6. Crashing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A past memory throws Lauren into a stress induced drop at a very inconvienant time. Once the boys notice, well, lets just say it was unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! It's finally here! The chapter that inspired this story, the moment we've all been waiting for!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: past trauma, subdrop (very prominant) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!!!

“Hey guys, there's a craft fair in town, maybe we should go!” Luka said from where he sat on a chair in the living room. “There's a ton of vendors, and maybe we can get some new stuff for Cammy and Lauren there.”

“Oh yeah, I saw something about that the other day, we should check it out!” Jonas said. Lauren shook her head, not even trying to fight them on this. She knew if she said something about not needing new stuff that they would just buy it for her anyway. And a craft fair sounded fun, she hadn’t been to one in a long time and was excited to see what there would be.

“Yeah, let’s go, it sounds like fun,” she said. Noah looked over at her and smiled, happy to see that she was on board with this whole plan.

“Ok then, what time does it open?” Noah asked. Luka looked back down at the advertisement on his phone and answered.

“It says it opens at 10 and closes at 5, but I think we should go after lunch at like 12 so we aren't really worried about eating,” Luka said. 

“Good idea,” Benny said. “I’ll go start making lunches. Anyone want something different or am I just making the usual?” he asked.

“Just the usual is fine Benny,” Noah said, as they all relaxed back into chairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ok guys, let's see what they have,'' Finn said, starting to browse through the vendors. Cammy pulled Lauren to his side and she laughed as he excitedly started to run from booth to booth. They had a really good time, buying a few things here and there but mostly just having fun looking at all the different things people were selling. 

They were nearing the end of the line of vendors when one booth caught her eye. She sucked in a breath and all the color drained from her face as she realized what they were selling. Rows upon rows of whips, cuffs, belts, and floggers lined the shelves. Images of her parents started to flash through her mind as her body froze. She couldn’t move, couldn't breathe. Her mind was being overloaded with sensations, it felt as if everything was falling apart. She could hear the screams of poor subs echoing through her ears, the sound a whip hitting skin. Her mind was clouded with a frenzy of thoughts and memories overloading her senses.

Cammy realized Lauren had stopped and turned to look. He rushed quickly to her side once he saw the look of fear evident on her face. “Lauren?” he called out frantically, He followed her line of sight and saw the booth she was looking at.  _ Oh shit,  _ he thought. “Ok Lauren, you're ok, they aren't gonna hurt you,” he told her, trying to pull her out of this trance she seemed to be in. 

He put his arm around her back and tried to steer her away from the booth. After a few seconds, her body seemed to snap out of it, and she shook her head to try and clear out the last of the thoughts. 

“Are you ok?” Cammy asked. Lauren looked up at him and nodded.

“Yeah, I, um, I’m fine.” She was  _ not  _ fine. Her body still felt like it was overloading and she needed her pills, fast. “Hey Cammy, could you go get me some water from that truck over there?” she asked, trying to get herself some time. Cammy nodded and rushed over to buy the drink. Lauren took out her substop and took two of them dry. She put them away and saw Cameron coming back with her water.  _ Come on, work work work _ she thought frantically. She needed her pills to kick in, she didn't want Cammy to realize she was still freaking out. 

Cammy handed Lauren the water and started slowly walking towards the rest of the vendors. Lauren put a smile on her face and pulled Cammy along, trying to go back to the way they were before her freak out. They were soon at the end of all the booths where they saw Finn and Jonas already waiting for them. 

Cammy ran up ahead and jumped on Finn, thankfully seeming to have moved on from the earlier complication. Lauren however, had not. She was waiting off to the side as the three other boys engaged in a conversation. Pulling out her pills once more, she swallowed another one down.  _ Why aren’t these working?  _ She could still feel the fogginess in her mind and the shakiness in her bones. As they waited for the remaining three boys to get to the end of the fair, something dawned on Lauren.  _ Shit, I’m gonna drop. _ She had never dropped before, never in her life. Her pills had always been able to stop the urges and prevent drops and subsickness. However, she had been taking more than she should have been, and with that booth messing with her head, the pills didn't seem to be enough to stop the oncoming drop she could feel. And with the fact that she hadn't dropped ever in her life, this wasn’t going to just be a drop, this was gonna be more of a crash. She prayed that the boys would hurry up so they could get back and she could deal with this on her own in her room, she couldn't have anyone finding out she was a sub and she didn't know how much longer she could hold out.

Lucky for her, her prayers were answered as she saw Benny, Noah, and Luka finish the row of vendors and head towards the group. The sensory overload going on in her body didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon but she did her best to hold off the drop as she got in the car.

She hopped into the backseat hoping to get some quiet, but that wasn't gonna happen as Luka jumped in right after her. Lauren leaned her head against the window hoping to discourage conversation, but Luka didn't seem to get the message.

“So Lauren, did you like the fair?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she answered, words taking too much energy for her to say anything more.

“It was really cool! I got some stuff for Brynn’s birthday, and I got to pet the little puppies at the dog shelter booth. They were sooo cute? Did you see them?” he asked.

“Yup,” Lauren answered, more of a whisper than anything. Luckily enough Luka seemed content to stop talking for a bit, Luren didn't know how much longer she could have kept that up. Unfortunately, Luka was pretty perceptive and Lauren apparently wasn’t that good at hiding.

“Laur, are you ok, you're shaking,” Luka said, sliding closer to the girl. Lauren cursed herself and turned to look at Luka. Lucky for her, everyone else in the car was talking amongst themselves and didn’t seem to be able to hear them.

“ ‘m fine,” the violent shudder that came with that statement did not help prove her point.

“Yeah, sure you are,” Luka said, looking at her concerned. Placing a hand on her knee, he thought for a second trying to figure out what was wrong. “Shit, you're cold,” he said, eyebrow furrowing.  _ Shaking, cold…  _ he thought. Then it clicked. “Lauren, are, are you-” Lauren braced herself to hear the words she’d dreaded since she was 13. “Are you  _ dropping?”  _ He whispered forcefully. Lauren whimpered, knowing that he had figured it out.

“No, ‘m not, I can't be, see?” she said, holding up the now empty pack of pills from her pocket. “I took ‘m, can't drop, see?” she said, her eyes closing and head lolling onto the wall of the car.

“Shit, Lauren, are these-” Lauren whimpered again, not wanting to hear him talk about the illegal pills she had been taking now for 5 years. “Ok, ok, ok, doesn't matter, your ok, your good, come here.” Luka pulled Lauren into his side, stroking his hand through her hair. He started whispering sweet nothings into her ear but it wasn't working. Luka was a sub, his voice just wasn’t quite right. The touch seemed to be helping, but his whispers were just another thing she was forced to listen to along with the pounding in her skull. Luka could see that he wasn't helping and sighed defeatedly.

“Lauren, can I tell Noah?” he asked. Lauren started to shake her head but Luka persisted. “Please, I can’t help you, you know I’m only making it worse. He'll help you, I promise. Please?” He pleaded. Lauren seemed to know that Luka wouldn’t give up until she gave in, so she curled into a tighter ball as she nodded solemnly. Luka sighed, relieved, and reached over the seat to tap Noah’s shoulder. 

“Hey Luka, you ok?” Noah asked, eyebrows furrowing at the look of concern on Luka’s face.

“Noah, Lauren’s dropping,” Luka said. A look of shock flashed across Noah’s face.

“What? Luka, are you sure?” Noah asked. Luka made a ‘see for yourself’ gesture and shifted to the side to show Lauren’s shaking form curled up against the window.

“Shit,” Noah said, unbuckling and jumping over the seat as quickly as he could. “Luka, go up front,” Noah said. 

“Awwww, come on,” Luka whined.

“Luka, go, this is not a game,” he said in a very stern voice. Lauren whimpered, hearing his tone and starting to panic.  _ He's mad at me he's mad he's mad he's mad.  _

Noah realized his tone must have scared her and he grabbed her quickly to reassure her. “Hey, hey, hey, you're ok, I’m not mad, I promise, I’m not mad,” he whispered to her, pulling her onto his lap. He placed one arm around her back and his other hand resting on the back of her neck. Lauren shivered at the hold and the words Noah was speaking into her ear. It was just so  _ right.  _ Lauren cuddled in closer as her tremors started to die down.

“You’re alright, everything’s ok, just relax, I'm right here, I've got you,” Noah murmured. Lauren was a  _ sub. _ Not a dom. Noah thought over the last few weeks of knowing the girl. It made sense. She had always been a little bit more on the sensitive side, and he had always had this urge to protect her, it's just.  _ How hadn’t he known?  _ Lauren seemed to tense up as she felt Noah’s reassurances slow down, and he was quick to return to his actions, not wanting to worry the girl.  _ It doesn’t matter how it's possible, she's a sub, she's crashing, time to help her. _

“Hey sweetheart,” Noah whispered. He felt her sink even further at the name. “I just want you to relax for me, ok? I know it might be scary, but just relax and give in. Nobody’s going to hurt you, I've got you, and you're safe, alright? Nod your head if you can hear me.” He felt a tiny nod against his chest where she was hiding. “Ok, good girl, I'm so proud of you, just keep relaxing, we're almost home, everything’s ok,” he said, looking outside to see how far away from the apartment they were. Luckily they were almost there, just turning onto the block. Noah pulled her close and started to bounce his leg on the car floor. The soft movement helped calm Lauren some more as they pulled into the driveway. As everyone got out of the car, Jonas lowered the seat for Noah and he lifted Lauren out of the car carefully, making sure not to hit her head on the way out. Luka must have told them about her dropping. He walked into the house and sat down on the couch with her. Everyone crowded around them and looked at each other.

“So, she's a sub,” Benny started. They all nodded in response, still slightly in shock.

“I can’t believe it,” Jonas said.

“I can,” Noah said. They all looked up at him in surprise. “Come on guys, you're telling me you can’t even picture her being a sub? She's always been a bit more on the sensitive side and had never really fought us for long when we've made a decision,” he said. “I'm not saying that doms can’t do those things, just that if you think about it, she could have totally been a sub the whole time,” he said.

“Cammy, did you know?” Finn asked, hoping that the answer was no.

“What, no! I'm just as shocked as you guys are,” he said. To be honest, he felt a little upset that he'd been lied to, but knew there was a reason.

“Ok, that's good, I guess,” Jonas said.

“Though to be honest, I don’t blame her for not telling anyone,” Cammy spoke again. The boys looked over at him in shock, and he continued. “Think about it, her entire family are high-level doms, and they practically torture subs. Would you go out and tell them that you're a sub? She had to tell them she was a level 8 just so that they wouldn’t hurt her. And they still did. Now imagine if she told them she was a sub,” Everyone there looked down at their laps and Lauren whimpered. Noah ran his hand up and down her arm and soothed her. 

“Ok, so we know why she hid it, but how?” Noah asked. This time it was Luka who spoke up.

“I know how,” he said. “Look in her pockets, she showed me when we first got into the car and I saw she was dropping.” Noah reached into her pocket and pulled out the now empty pill packet.

“Shit,” he cursed. “Are these what I think they are?” He turned over the package and saw the substop logo on the back, confirming his fears. “Yup, she’s been taking fucking illegal prevention pills for the past 5 years,” he said sourly. Lauren curled in tighter at the sound of his tone and Noah was quick to calm her. 

“Wait, let me see those,” Cammy said, taking the package from Noah. He too looked at the logo and grimaced. “This is my fault,” he said. “Before her test, she was freaking out that she was going to get sub, so we created a plan in case it happened. I, of course, didn’t think we needed it after she told me her ‘results,’ but clearly I was wrong. She just went along with it without telling me,” he sighed. “Here, try rubbing off her mark, I’m sure it's just covered with foundation, just like we planned,” he said.

“Cammy, it's not your fault, you were trying to calm her down, you didn't know,” Finn said, watching as Noah took his thumb and rubbed it right under her ear. Lauren shuddered violently at the touch, the sensitive skin prickling and goosebumps appearing on her skin at the touch. Noah tried to comfort her as he continued to rub at that spot, watching as a small black ‘v’ started to show underneath his thumb. 

“Yup, here it is,” he said, stopping his movements as the dark mark was clearly shown in contrast to her pale skin.

“I can't believe she actually managed to hide this from us,” Benny said. “Not to be cocky or anything, but we generally are a pretty observant group of doms, and are usually pretty good at finding subs. I mean, Jonas you literally knew Luka was a sub before even talking to him,” Benny said.

“Well, you have to consider that the pills cancel out most instincts, so she just might not have been showing anything,” Jonas said.

“Yeah, you're right. So, what do we do now?” Benny asked. He looked around the room to see everyone looking pretty lost when Noah spoke up. 

“I think the stuff we need to talk about requires her to come back up, so I’m gonna start to try pulling her back. She's been down for almost an hour now, so I think it's time,” he said. The rest of the boys nodded simultaneously as Noah spoke up once more.

“Luka, why don't you go sit in your room for a bit or something,” he said, not wanting him to go into a drop from watching them.

“Noah, come on, I'll be fineeee,” Luka whined in response. “I told you about her drop, I should be able to help,” he said.

“You've helped enough already by telling us what you knew, now please go busy yourself with something until Brynn gets here,” Noah stated finally.

“You called Brynn?” he asked, surprised. She wasn't supposed to come today. Not that he was upset, but, well, it wasn't the usual.

“Yes, I have, now please go to your room,” Noah said sternly, pulling Lauren closer to his body. She seemed to still be shivering slightly. Noah looked up and saw Finn standing up as well.

“Cammy, let’s go too,” he said. Cammy looked up at him confused.

“What, why?” he asked. He had some questions for Lauren and didn’t want to leave.

“Because we do not need to be here for this next conversation and whatever questions you have can wait. We do not need to overwhelm her right now,” Finn said. Cammy huffed out a breath following his boyfriend and Luka as they all left the room. The remaining three boys looked down at Lauren in Noah’s arms.  _ She looks so peaceful like this _ , Noah thought. He almost didn’t want to pull her up, but he knew he had too. 

Noah sat up straighter, listening to Lauren’s whimper at the change in position. He began to speak quietly to her in hopes of bringing her back to awareness.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said softly. Lauren hummed. “Lauren, can you hear me?” She nodded softly into his chest. Taking in a breath, he continued.

“Lauren, I want you to try to start coming up now,” he said. Lauren whined at those words and Noah sighed. “I know you don’t want to, but I really need you to come back to me now, ok? No rush, just take your time,” he said, rubbing her arm as he watched her start to blink away the fogginess. Noah continued to rub his hand up and down her arm as she came up when suddenly her whole body went tense. She violently shook her head, sitting up in Noah’s arms. She seemed frantic as she looked around the room and saw the three boys staring at her. Panicking, she bolted out of Noah’s arms, down the hallway, and into her room, slamming the door.

“Well, shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, there it is! I hope I didn't dissapoint, this was a really monumental chapter to the story. I love hearing all your comments and reactions to the strory, they really make my day! I really hope you enjoyed!


	7. Some New Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noah thinks he's doing the right things when talking to Lauren, but he misses out on some important information that may or may not be life threatening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, It's here! Chapter 7!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS: Subdrop, subsickness
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Lauren? Please, let me in. I promise I won’t hurt you, I just want to talk,” Noah pleaded. He had been sitting against the door to Lauren’s room for the past 20 minutes, trying to get her to unlock the door. So far he hadn't had any luck.

Lauren sat in the corner of her room shaking, barely hearing Noah’s voice over the frantic thoughts flying through her head.  _ Shit shit shit you failed. You let them find out. They're gonna hate you, they're gonna hurt you. Subs are the worst, subs are bad, I’m bad, I’m bad, I’m bad. _

Noah started tapping his hand on the floor, becoming antsy after waiting for so long without a response. “Lauren?” he called out again, not liking the silence he got in return. He waited another 10 minutes without a response before he made a decision.

“Lauren, I'm coming in there, ok?” he said, standing up and going to grab the key to the rooms from the kitchen. Going back to her room, he slid the key in and opened her door slowly, not wanting to scare the girl. Looking into the room, he saw Lauren curled up in a tiny ball, violent sobs shaking her body.

He quickly went over to her, crouching down and speaking softly to her. “Lauren, sweetheart, can you hear me?” 

“Please don’t hurt me, I'm sorry, please, I'll be good, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,” Lauren whimpered, curling in on herself.

_ Oh, no, poor girl.  _ “Lauren, listen to me please. I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise you. Can you look at me please? Let me see your eyes,” Noah said softly. Lauren whimpered slightly but raised her eyes to meet his.

“Good girl,” Noah praised, watching as a shiver shook down Lauren's spine. “Hey can we come out of the corner now? I won't touch you, I just can't imagine it being very comfortable back there.” Lauren nodded and slowly moved out of her huddle as Noah went to sit on the bed. Following him, Lauren took a seat on the bed, looking up at Noah nervously.

“Laur, I want to make this clear, ok? We are not in any way, shape, or form, going to hurt you. We are not angry, or disappointed in you, no matter what you think. We were all just a little bit shocked, but we would never be upset with you over your classification,” Noah said calmly to her.

“But, but, I’m a  _ sub _ ,” Lauren whispered, not able to block out the words of her parents. Noah looked over at her sadly and tried to change her mind.

“So? That's not a bad thing,” he said.

“Yeah it is,” she whined. “Subs are weak, and worthless. They’re just a bother to doms like you. And I lied to you, which makes it even worse,” she said.

Noah sighed. “Subs are  _ not  _ weak,” he said, “They’re just as important as doms.” Lauren didn’t seem convinced. Noah tried to think of a different approach.

“Ok, well, Luka’s a sub, and is he weak?” he asked. “Is he unimportant, or worth any less than me, or Benny or Jonas?” 

Lauren looked up at him, shocked. “No! Of course not! Luka’s the best!” she said. How could anyone think that Luka was worthless? He was smart, and funny, and caring...

“I know he is, but he’s also a sub. And so are you. So if Luka isn’t any of those things because he’s a sub, then how does being a sub make you any of those things?” he asked. Lauren put her head down, stuck. On the one hand, she knew that Luka was a sub and was an amazing person, but on the other hand, she had always thought that her being a sub was disgusting and horrible. She didn’t know what to believe, and the conflicting thoughts made her head hurt.

Noah seemed to sense the distress she was under and moved to put his hand on her knee. The touch seemed to shake her out of her thoughts and she looked up at him with a lost look in her eyes. Noah smiled softly at her and ran his thumb along her thigh.

“Hi there,” he said softly. “You wanna talk?” he asked. Lauren whimpered softly and Noah understood. “Ok then, how about I just talk and you listen?” Lauren nodded.

“Now I know that all of this is scary and that it's all totally new to you, but I want you to know that no matter what, the boys and I are all here to support you. Ok?” he looked up to make sure Lauren was still listening.

“So obviously now that you are a sub there are going to have to be some changes, but none of them change how any of us look at you. It’s just that now we have to take into consideration that you’ll have to have drops and such.” Lauren looked up at Noah when he said that and he gave her a knowing look in return.

“Yes, that means that you will be getting regularly dropped and will not be going back on substop. I don't care how long you've been taking it, those pills are illegal and you are not taking them.” He looked over at Lauren who reluctantly nodded back at him. Seeing her nod, he continued.

“Now, for your drops. If you don't feel comfortable with anyone here we can find you a dom, but I would love to help you out and I’m sure the other boys would as well. It's totally up to you and I don't want you to think we are forcing you to-”

“Noah,” Lauren interrupted. “It's fine, you can help,” she said. Honestly, she didn't really feel comfortable with anyone else seeing her so vulnerable, and she wouldn't want to have to look for a dom and find out nobody wanted her. Noah’s pity help would be the best she could get.

Noah smiled, happy that she wanted his help. Honestly, he was hoping she would ask him, he just felt like there was something about her, that he wanted to protect and appreciate.

“Thank you, Lauren. It would be my pleasure to help you drop. I’m really happy that you trust me enough to be with you during that.” Noah looked up at Lauren and his smile turned into a frown. Something seemed off about Lauren.

“Laur?” he said questioningly. He brought his hand up to cup her face and she shuddered at the tough to her sub mark.”Tell me what's wrong.”

Lauren looked down and murmured something that Noah couldn't make out. “What was that?” he asked. Lauren looked up at him and sighed.

“I said I'm sorry that you have to pity drop me,” she said. Noah looked at her appalled, shocked that she would think that.  _ Did she really think I'm only helping her out of pity? Poor girl is so insecure that she doesn’t even think someone could help her because they would want to. _

“Lauren, no, I’m not pitying you. Yes, I feel horrible about the terrible past you've had to suffer, but I want to help you drop because I want to spend time with you. I want to help you because you mean a lot to me. I'm not doing this because I pity you, ok?” Lauren looked up at him hopefully, trying to accept the fact that someone might actually want to help her just because. Noah smiled softly at her and continued to speak.

“So now that that's settled, let's talk about the schedule. Since you don't usually drop, let's start with once a week and see how that goes. We can start a week from today, so next Saturday. I don't want to throw you into something that your body isn’t used too,” Noah said. 

It seemed like a good idea, especially for most subs. However, Lauren wasn’t a ‘normal’ sub. Once a week might work for a level 3 or 4, maybe level 5.  _ He probably thinks I’m a level 5 because I told them I was a level 5 dom.  _ Level was probably the one thing that Noah forgot about, making assumptions that weren't true. Lauren wasn’t a level 5, she was a level 10. She would probably need to be dropped once, maybe twice a  _ day.  _ Though Lauren wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead she just smiled and nodded, going along with Noah’s plan. Only time would tell how terrible that idea was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 days had passed, and Lauren wasn’t doing too well. 

For the first day, she spent time with the boys and everything seemed fine, except for her struggling to fall asleep at night. Seemed normal enough.

On the second day, she had woken up with a sore throat and a headache, but still spent most of the day watching tv and hanging out with the group.

By the third day Lauren was actively coughing and sniffling. Her head was pounding and her whole body ached. When Jonas came into her room to check on her after what would have been breakfast, she told him that she wasn’t feeling well and thought she was coming down with something. She told him that she didn’t want to go out and contaminate them as well, so she was going to stay in bed for the day.   
Now obviously that wasn’t the truth, and Lauren knew it. She was becoming subsick, she had been since the first day after her drop. She had looked for her pills to try to hide it, but Noah must have taken them from her room the day before. So she decided to hide in her room and wait it out, not wanting to worry the boys and most of all, Noah.

Noah on the other hand was pretty content. The past 3 days had been pretty calm for him, and Jonas had told the whole group where Lauren was so he wasn’t worried. He was currently on the phone with his friend, Sage, who he had been friends with since high school and got together with often.

“Yeah dude, she had been hiding it the whole time, then trauma dropped on our way home from the fair. It was so bad,” Noah said to Sage over the phone.

“Really? How had she been hiding it, like, you're really high-level Noah, I can't believe you couldn’t tell!” Sage said.

“Yeah, I know S, but you wouldn't be able to either, and you're level 10 too. She was using prevention pills, found an empty pack in her pocket,” Noah said.

“Wait, shit, really? It was in her pocket, and empty?” Sage clarified.

“Yeah, it was Sage, why?” Noah couldn't see the severeness in this detail.

“Noah, substop pills are supposed to be taken once, when you wake up, why would she be carrying it around. And those packets usually have enough pills to last someone a month, it's not like someone usually carries them around when you only take them once a day,” Sage said, starting to get a bit worried.

Noah heard the alertness in Sage’s voice and his pulse began to pick up. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but looking back on it now, it was kind of suspicious for someone to be carrying a month's pills in their pocket. 

“So, what do you think, she was overdosing?” Noah asked, hoping the answer was negative.

“I mean, it seems that way,” Noah replied. “Those pills are super easy to get addicted to, and really only work for lower level subs. They aren't really enough for higher levels, and she could have been taking more in order to make them work. Do you know what level she is?” 

Noah thought about it and cursed himself. He really should have asked Lauren this before. “No, I don’t, shit,” Noah said. Thinking of how he could find out, he remembered.

“Wait, Sage, you work at the Classification office, right?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, I do N, why?” Sage asked.

“Then don’t you have everything saved on your computer? Couldn't you see her results?” Noah asked.

“Actually, yeah, I could. But only if I tested her myself. You said she was what, 18? So she would have been tested 5 years ago, so I was 16, yeah. It was my first year as an intern, I should still have the files. Let me look,” Sage said, looking over at his computer. Luckily he was just about to leave when Noah had called him, so he didn't have any appointments left for the day.

Noah heard the sound of computer keys over the phone as he waited to hear from Sage. After another minute he heard a soft gasp come over the phone. “Sage?” 

“Well Noah, I tested her,” Sage said.

“And?” Noah asked.

“And, and she's a level 10 sub, Noah.”

Noah stopped pacing, all thoughts leaving his head.  _ Lauren was a level 10?  _

_ “ _ Wait, yeah, I remember her. Average height, light brownish hair, bright smile? She had been really shy at first but after she was super soft and sweet. I have her down here as a case to look out for because of some things we discussed and there were... Wait Noah, how long has it been since her drop?” Sage asked, really starting to worry. In his case overview for Lauren he had written down several notes about very obvious sub instincts, some of the strongest he’d ever seen. If his previous self had been able to tell that she was a sub before the test was even done, then how was Noah, a super observant and high-level dom not able to notice? She had to have been using those drugs, and too many of them. 

Noah thought about Sage’s description of Lauren. The physical seemed about right, but the whole soft and sweet bit, it wasn't how he would have described her. Yes, she was shy at first and took a bit to open up, but he had never pictured her as ‘soft’. Lauren had always seemed to have a harder exterior, which made Noah question how much those pills could have changed her personality.

“Uh, maybe like 2-3 days? She’s been camping out in her room lately, apparently she came down with a cold or something and we haven't been able to discuss anything since,” Noah said, not noticing anything wrong with the situation. Sage, on the other hand, did. 

“Shit, Noah I’m coming over, don't do anything until I get there,” he said, grabbing his stuff and running out of the building. He got in the car and frantically started driving over to his friend’s apartment.

“Wait, what? Sage, what's going on?” Noah asked, confused as to why Sage was coming over.

“Noah are you kidding me? Lauren doesn't have a cold, she's subsick.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sage knocked on the apartment door barely 5 minutes later. Noah dropped the water bottles and blankets he had grabbed and ran to the door, opening it and walking towards Lauren’s room without even saying a word.

“Good, you got some stuff. Can you go grab something light for food, like some crackers or something? She probably hasn't been eating well like this,” Sage said. 

“Yeah, ok,” Noah said, running off to the pantry and grabbing the crackers. He came back to the door to see Sage slowly turning the handle, making a sign towards Noah to stay quiet. 

They both walked into the alarmingly quiet room. There was no sign of anyone being in there except for the large mound of blankets present in the middle of the bed. Sage walked towards the bed and started to speak softly.

“Hey, Lauren, can you hear me?” The boys both waited for a response that never came. Sage continued on to the bed and tried peeling back the covers, receiving a small whimper at the movement. Saged grimaced at the weak sound of the girl's voice and tried to get closer. He walked to the side of the bed and tried to move more of the blankets out of the way, but that only served to make the situation worse, Lauren curling up tighter and starting to shake slightly. Noah motioned for Sage to move back a bit and tried to get to Lauren himself.

“Hey, Laur, it’s just me, Noah. Can you come out of there for me? Lauren whimpered at the sound of Noah’s voice, wanting him both closer and further away. Noah moved towards her and tried to move some of the blankets away from what he thought was her face, and continued to whisper encouraging words to the girl.

Noah was finally able to pull the blankets away from Lauren’s face and watched as she shied her face away from the light. Sage went over to the blankets and waters and wet the side of one of the blankets. Handing it to Noah, he tried to run the blanket over Lauren’s head and pull her out of the blankets. All they got were whimpers and whines in return, and they both sighed. Not only was Lauren hiding away in the blankets, but she also seemed to be completely unresponsive to the words and questions they were asking.

Noah looked down at the girl he’d become so close with and felt his heart break at seeing her so weak and sickly looking. She looked like she had already lost weight in these few days, and her body looked like it would break at even the smallest touch. He mentally kicked himself for not noticing her condition earlier and only snapped out of it when he heard Sage’s voice next to him.

“Noah, we're gonna have to drop her,” Sage said seriously.

“What?” Noah said, not liking what Sage said one bit.

“She's subsick, Noah. She’s sick because she hasn’t been dropped frequently enough. The only way for her to get better is for her to drop,” Sage said.

“I, I mean, I know that but, Sage, we can’t get her consent. She can’t tell us it's ok for us to drop her,” Noah said, not liking the thought of dropping a sub without their consent.

“I know, Noah, but if we don't, then she'll just continue to get more sick and it could kill her, ok? We're saving her life here,” Sage said. Noah sighed but realized that Sage was right. Climbing onto the bed with Sage by his side, Noah began to pull Lauren into his lap. He didn’t like how easily he could move her body and how unresponsive she was to his actions. 

Pulling her tight against his body, he wrapped his arms around her in a standard sub hold, one arm around her back and one on her neck, just barely skimming her sub mark. He started whispering soft words into her ears, hoping that Lauren was listening. Sage started to rub one of his hands along her back and the other through her hair, watching as the small girl began to relax more and more.

They kept up their efforts, but it was only when Noah placed a soft kiss on Lauren’s forehead that all the tension left her body and she fully fell into the drop. Sage looked up at Noah curiously and Noah just shrugged. He didn’t know what had compelled him to do that or why Lauren reacted that way, but none of that mattered because at least for now, Lauren was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, wow, its been a week! A whole week since I've uploaded. That's the longest time I've gone without uploading yet. I had my AP tests this week, so I spent a lot of time studying and just never got to uploading, I'm sorry. I've actually had about half of this chapter written since last week, but just got to finishing it last night. I'm gonna do my best to keep upoading frequently, but sometimes school gets in the way. Can't wait for it to be over!
> 
> Comments make me write faster, I promise! (hehe) Also, if you have any ideas for things you want in this story, please leave them below! I have a few other major events, but I kinda wanted a few filler chapters first. So if you have any ideas, please please please leave them below! Thank you!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	8. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sage finally gets Lauren and the doms to talk over this whole situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, finally the 'big talk' we've been waiting for!
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Just some talking, mentions of subdrop and drug use
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The two boys sat on the bed, watching the peaceful breaths of Lauren in her drop. Looking at her like this, Noah could almost picture the soft girl Sage had described. It was eating him up inside for not noticing these things about Lauren. He was a level 10 dom, he should have been able to know she was a sub, and that she was sick. Heck, he should have just asked her level, it was common sense! 

Sage watched Lauren with such a look of wonder on his face. He couldn’t even begin to wonder how a sub of her caliber had been able to hide her instincts for so long. Having worked in the classification office for 5 years now, he knew everything about instincts and classifications. He had never heard of a level 10 hiding their classification for more than a week, their instincts were too strong. 

Sage looked up at Noah and saw the pained expression on his face. He could only imagine how Noah must feel, not noticing Lauren’s sub calling. When subs are in distress or close to dropping, most doms, especially higher-level ones, can feel it, almost like a sixth sense. Sage was a level 10, just like Noah, so he knew what it was like to constantly feel different subs’ callings. He’d never had an experience where he couldn’t sense a sub, let alone not even know they were a sub in the first place. Noah was probably beating himself up over this, and Sage was going to stop it.

“Hey,” Sage said softly, for once not speaking to the sub in Noah’s arms. “Noah, it’s not your fault.” Noah looked up at the sound of Sage’s voice, just to look back down after hearing his words.

“Sage, I-” 

“No, Noah, this is  _ not  _ your fault, and I will not let you beat yourself up about it. I don’t care what you think, but there was no way for you to know that Lauren was a level 10 sub. She was on preventatives which blocked her instincts and there was no way for you to sense them. Now please, stop worrying about what happened and focus on what’s going on now, ok? We should probably start to pull her up soon and grab Benny and Jonas to talk as well,” Sage said, not leaving any room for Noah to contradict him.

Noah looked over at Sage, speechless. He knew what he was saying was true, but was struggling to accept it.  _ I’m a level 10 dom, I should have known.  _ Thoughts put aside, Sage was still right. They should probably start to bring Lauren back up now, and they did have to talk. 

Sitting up, he started to rub his arm across Lauren’s back and speak quietly to her. After a few minutes Lauren started to come back up and looked around the room in confusion. Before any panic could set in, Sage spoke.

“Hey Lauren, I don’t know if you remember me, But my name’s Sage. I administered your classification test a few years ago,” Sage said, looking for any recognition on Lauren’s face. Luckily enough she didn’t seem to be freaking out as if there were a stranger in the room, so Sage took that as a sign to continue. 

“I’m a good friend of Noah’s, and when we realized that he didn’t know your sub level I looked it up on my computer,” Sage said.

A look of horror crossed Lauren’s face at that statement.  _ They know I’m a level ten, they, they-”  _ Sage cut in before Lauren could work herself up in a panic.

“Yes, that means we know you are a level 10 sub, and we will deal with that accordingly. However, once we found this information and I heard you were sick, I realized you were probably subsick and came right over. We put you in a drop to get rid of your symptoms and here we are,” Sage finished. He gave Lauren a minute to process this information before Noah spoke up.

“Yeah, pretty much. Thanks Sage by the way, this probably would have gotten a lot worse if you weren’t here. I’m gonna go get Jonas and Benny and we’ll all talk it over. Thanks for the help, really. We have to get together some time under different circumstances and-”

“Woah woah woah Noah, I don’t know what you were thinking but I’m not going anywhere. We all have some talking to do and yes, I said we,” Sage said.

“But-” Noah started.

“Nope, you all had your chance to talk this over once before and we all know how that went. This time I’m gonna be there and make sure some talking actually occurs, got it?” Sage looked to see the two other people in the room nodding and continued on.

“Ok, now I’m going to go get Benny and Jason and we are all going to be civilized human beings and talk all of this over. Meet me in the living room in 5,” Sage said, getting up from the bed and leaving the room.

Noah looked down at Lauren and shrugged, helping her up and off the bed before carefully walking into the living room to go meet Sage and the two other doms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They all sat in the living room, Lauren surrounded by four other doms. Once they all finished settling down, Sage began to speak.

“Ok, so I know you all know why we’re here, but I’m gonna fill in some details that Jonas and Benny might not know.” Benny and Jonas looked up at that, curious as to what they missed after Lauren had run off.

“So, after Lauren had run off after the initial drop,” Lauren looked down at her lap, Noah putting his hand on her knee. ”Noah went in and talked with her for a bit. Not that that did much good, but it was something,” Noah looked down at that, but Sage continued on. 

“Then, as you know, Lauren became sick and locked herself in her room. Jonas, you heard from her that she was just coming down with a cold, but she was actually becoming subsick.” Sage heard two soft gasps come from Jonas’ and Benny’s mouths.

“No,” he heard Jonas whisper.

“Really?” he heard Benny ask.

“Yup,” Sage replied. “She didn’t want any of you to find out, and we will discuss that, but for now, let's continue. So, while Lauren was in her room, Noah had called me just to catch up. Somehow, the topic of Lauren’s drop came up, and I started to become a bit suspicious of some of the details, mainly the fact that she had been carrying around her prevention pills. If you didn’t know, those pills are only supposed to be taken once a day, right when you wake up, so the fact that she had been carrying them around was sort of a red flag. It was a major sign of overdosing.

After I asked Noah some more questions about the situation, we came across the realization that he didn’t know Lauren’s sub level. Knowing that I work at the classification center, Noah had me look up Lauren’s test results and, well, it turns out she’s a level 10 submissive,” Sage said, watching as Jonas’ mouth dropped open and Benny put his hands up behind his head. Lauren put her head in her hands, hating this conversation more and more as it went on but knowing that she wasn’t getting out of it anytime soon. Noah pulled her body into his side, understanding her discomfort. 

After giving them a minute to settle with this new information, Sage continued on. 

“Once we figured this out, things started to click. Lauren was a level 10, who was used to using pills but was abruptly taken off them, then was suddenly sick and hiding away all alone. As soon as I realized what was happening I drove over to the apartment and Noah and I ran into Lauren’s room. And I was right, she was subsick.”

“After we found her and got her out from under the covers, we put her in a drop to get rid of her symptoms of sickness. Then we pulled her back up, and now we’re here, to talk about this whole situation in a calm, civilized manner,” Sage said, finishing his recap of the previous events.

“Now, let’s start from the first problem here,” Sage said, hearing Lauren whimper into Noah’s neck. Looking up at Noah, he waited for a ‘go on’ gesture before continuing.

“Lauren, whether or not you were hiding your classification, you were using prevention pills. And despite the fact that they are highly illegal, which should be a problem but we are ignoring that fact, you were also taking way too many of them.,” Sage looked over at Lauren who was still hiding next to Noah. 

“Lauren, about how many of those substop pills were you taking daily?” Sage waited for an answer that didn’t come.

“Lauren, I know you might not want to answer me but I need to know how badly you were overdosing,” Sage said again, watching as Noah tried to pull Lauren out of his neck.

“Laur, hey, can you tell me? How many were you taking?” Noah whispered softly to her. Lauren whined but pulled herself up a little, leaning her head on Noah’s shoulder. She didn’t know why she was being so touchy with him, but she felt the most comfortable around him and he didn't seem to be complaining. 

Realizing they weren’t going to continue until she gave an answer, Lauren whispered an answer softly but it was too muffled to hear.

“What was that?” Noah asked, looking Lauren in the eye. Lauren looked down, repeating her answer.

“4, maybe more,” She whispered slightly louder, just enough for them to hear. Noah grimaced at her response, watching as Sage’s eyes filled with a mix of shock and sadness. Jonas and Benny were both speechless as they looked around the room.

“Ok, that’s ok, you’re ok,” Sage said, not knowing whether he was speaking more to Lauren or himself.

“So, Sage, what does that mean? She’s off the pills now, but could there be any lasting effects of the pills?” Noah asked.

“Right, well yeah, that’s why they’re illegal. There have been several cases of long-lasting effects, but I’m not so worried about that right now. I mean, yes, it’s something to think about, but that’s not my biggest concern at the moment. I’m more concerned with the fact that she was just yanked off the pills so suddenly.”

“Normally when someone wants to go off pills, especially when they’ve been overdosing, they slowly weed themselves off of them, not just totally forget them all at once. Going off the pill can oftentimes bring on a flood of instincts, due to the fact that they’ve been hidden by the pills. By quitting the pills slowly, it allows for the sub to deal with these oncoming instincts with the help of a dom without much trouble. However, with Lauren overdosing so heavily and stopping so abruptly, I’m concerned about how strong her instincts might become and how her body might react,” Sage said, voicing his concerns.

Noah didn’t like the sound of that and tried to think of a solution. Unfortunately, Sage didn’t seem to be finished.

“Under her circumstances, I imagine that Lauren would have to be dropped several times a day, at least twice, maybe more. That brings us to our next problem. She doesn’t have a dom. Now, I know that you might all be willing to help and already think you have a plan and such, but there are rules,” Sage said.

“What rules?” Benny asked, speaking up. They all knew the general rules, but he had a feeling Sage wasn’t talking about those.

“Well, you guys are high-level doms, so I’m sure you know about the specific rules there are for you,” Sage said.

“Well yeah, we had to find some way to act on our instincts by 18 and such,” Jonas said.

“Yeah, well, just like you have your rules, high-level subs have their own rules as well. They have to find someone to help them with their drops by 18, and they must be dropped by someone of their level for at least 50% of the required drops per their level,” Sage said.

“So, she has to be dropped a lot by certain people?” Jonas asked.

“Kind of,” Sage started. “ It means that she has to be dropped by a level 10 dom at least 50% of the time. Which seems fine, but she’s going to be dropping at least 2 to 3 times a day. That means a level 10 has to be available to drop her at least once or twice a day, and that takes time. Especially since there's only one level 10 in the apartment and I can’t be here all the time,” Sage said.

“Now I know this might not be so bad for you Noah, but there should be some backup in place. And we could use supplements to allow Benny and Jonas to drop her as well, but there's another rule that makes things a lot more tricky,” Sage said, not wanting to move on.

“Well, what is it?” Noah asked, not liking how Sage went all quiet.

“A sub can only be dropped by different doms if their official dom gives permission to said substitute dom,” Sage said.

“Ok, what’s so bad about that?” Jonas asked.

“It says that in order for multiple doms to drop Lauren, her official dom would have to give permission,” Benny said.

“Which means that she’d have to get a dom,” Noah finished.

Silence filled the room as Lauren started to shake lightly. Noah felt her tremors and looked up at Sage to soothe the situation.

“Ok, well we don’t need to jump there so fast, there’s another option that might be less binding,” Sage said, watching as everyone let out sighs of relief. Unfortunately this option wasn’t much better.

“She could get a contract with one of you, ideally Noah,” Sage said. At that Noah looked up at Sage, and he continued.

“The classification rules state that a submissive under a contract must be paired with a dominant of their level or higher. It’s a lot harder to get a contract if the dom is a lower level, and since Lauren is a level 10, we really only have one option. Still, the contract would be an easier situation to get out of if necessary and isn’t as binding in the long run. If Noah wont do it, we’d have to find someone else, and I wouldn’t want that to happen,” Sage said.

Noah looked down at the girl tucked into his side. He wouldn’t let Lauren go looking for a dom when he was right here, more than willing to do it himself. Just as Lauren started to look up at him Noah spoke.

“I’ll do it, as long as you’re ok with it Laur. I know we had already talked about me helping you drop so I don’t mind,” Noah said.

“Wait, really Noah, you would do that?” Lauren whispered up at Noah in awe. She knew they would be all over the idea of helping her embrace her classification, but taking on a contract for her? That was no small thing. It would be just as binding for him as it is for her. Not that you can’t get out of one if you needed to, but it would prevent him from getting his own sub and would make him Lauren’s legal dominant. She couldn’t imagine anyone doing something like that for her.

“Of course, Laur. I’ve had plenty of time to look for a sub and here I am. I would rather be in a contract with you than any other sub right now, and the fact that I get to help you while doing it? It’s a win-win for me. 

Lauren was still looking up at Noah in awe as Sage spoke up.

“Ok, well that’s that. Noah, I’ll email you the paperwork for the contract and just get it back to me as soon as possible. Now we have to discuss the whole dropping situation. As a level 10, Laur, you should be dropping around 2 times a day. Noah, you guys can come up with a whole schedule for that, but just know that it might be a bit uncoordinated for a while due to the side effects of the substop and subsickness,” Sage said.

“Got it. I already have some ideas but Laur, you and I can talk about that later. I’m just curious about Benny and Jonas and the supplements you were talking about,” Noah said, rubbing his arm up and down Lauren’s side.

“Oh right. The supplements would allow for Jonas and Benny to drop Lauren even though they are lower levels than her. It would be almost like a finger prick, and I could get you the little device in keychain form. Just before you try to drop her, carefully prick her finger with the device. The only true downside to the supplements is the actual prick. When a sub is close to dropping, the pain can sometimes send them into a panic, so you just have to be careful. Oh, and the dosage for Benny and Jonas are different so make sure you use the corresponding device for each dom,” Sage explained.

“Ok, perfect,” Benny said, thankful that everything seemed to be working out ok.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Jonas said. 

“Well in that case, I think we’ve actually had a successful conversation here. I’ll send you guys those supplements as soon as possible. Any questions?” Sage asked, listening for any last remarks. Nobody answered so Sage looked over to Lauren to make sure she was ok with everything. “Lauren?” He asked.

“Yeah, um, it’s all just a lot, but I think we’ve covered everything. Thank you all for being so understanding,” she said quietly, still trying to process everything.

“Of course, we just threw a ton of stuff at you. We’ll go as slow as we can, and luckily you have a ton of people around here supporting you. We’ll get through this together, ok?” Noah said, looking down kindly at Lauren. She smiled back up at him and he felt her relax more into his side.

“Ok well, I have to start heading home, I told Katy I would be back to make dinner for her and her dom. Make sure to keep me updated and I’m sure I’ll stop by soon. See ya guys!” Sage said, getting up to leave the apartment and head his place, the one he shared with his younger sister, Katy. The boys all called out their goodbyes and Lauren waved.

Once Sage left the apartment they all got up and ate something light for dinner. After finishing they all decided to call it an early night and go to bed, all needing a good night’s rest after the hectic day. Things might have been crazy, but at least now they were finally starting to look up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that was a lot of talking, finally someone got them to have an actual converstaion. Next chapter is probably just gonna be a lot of fluff and experimenting, we'll see... :)
> 
> If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave them below! I really love hearing your thoughts and having your ideas get implemented into the story?
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed!


	9. Update!!

I’m just putting this here to say I am NOT abandoning this story. I know it’s been wayyyyy too long and I haven’t updated but I just finished school so I’m gonna try to write soon. I’m in the process of the next chapter and I will post it as soon as possible!!


End file.
